Debt Debates: Who's to Blame

You could blame Republicans for not compromising

You could blame Tea Partiers for their ideological wall

But you'd be blaming the wrong persons

No, ultimate blame lies with one group: mainstream economics

Why? Where do the tea partiers and the conservative Republicans get this deep underlying notion that economic efficiency (ignoring inconvenient truths like externalities and fairness) is the goal our society should aspire to at all costs? Where do they get the mistaken notion that keeping taxes marginally lower is more important than reducing uncertainty for jobs and business growth? Where do they get the notion that growth can and should be pursued with a complete blind eye to issues of equity and fairness? Where do they get the notion that national income can be looked at in aggregate to be a barometer of economic well-being - as long as profits are rising, things must be going well....?

Where else, but those that taught them - mainstream economics professors across this country that continue to turn a blind eye to the real, full picture - including matters that other economists have been shunned for decades for trying to discuss.

So, if anyone is to be blamed or should feel ashamed it should be mainstream textbook authors that conceal real truth with half truths; and it should be teachers that can't pick their face up out of a glossy text to recognize that ability is as important as willingness - forever getting lost in the assumptions; and it should be researchers who hide behind differential equations and so called 'simulation' models; and it should be students that take it all in without blinking.

Welcome to our future.

Heed the warning, economists.