Crime Against Humanity: Pensée Unique in Economics, 50

So, what is the purpose in pushing something that does not work? It’s quintessentially obvious: the professed purpose is not the real purpose; the real purpose is the end, professing a false purpose is a means to achieve it, the professed purpose is to be expected to be the opposite of the real one, and while behind the scenes the achievement of the real purpose works like a charm aod goes swimmingly, on stage it is the triumph of Orwellian doublespeak to implant that two plus two equals five, and that the continuing failure of the professed purpose is actually a triumph. Cherry on the cake, that freedom is slavery, that ignorance is force and, why not, that war is peace, can always follow in due time.

Proof of this is the previously seen behaviour of central banks, and first and foremost the IMF: they do not “practice what they preach”. Well, they would certainly not waste time “preaching what they do not practice” if the worship of the Pensée Unique did not serve other ends. And that they continue to do so since decades proves that this liturgy most definitely serves such other ends well.

Proof of this is the deductive method, too, due to the combination of its results and position. Werner points out, “It must be considered a unique phenomenon in the history of thought that the originally marginal and eccentric deductive approach to economics has today become the mainstream school of thought. … It is striking how seamlessly neoclassical economists have bridged the gap from their wholly fictional world of unrealistic models to recommendations of policies that actual politicians are supposed to implement in reality. … The predominance of this methodology is virtually unique among the academic disciplines. … if deductive mainstream economics had been empirically successful, one might have wished to tolerate its unusual methodology. However, the fact that major challenges exist to the fundamental tenets of macroeconomics means that the deductive approach cannot be sustained.” We are confronted by the unique case of a house of cards that wheaters the storms unscathed as if it was made of steel. This is no small thing. And it proves there must be props behind it, and they must be made of steel.