The study of economics has come a long way in the last sixty years. Some of those long, cryptic formulas we saw scratched on blackboards are beginning to spit out some reliable predictions. Some thinkers, including the biologist and theorist, E. O. Wilson, believe economics will be the key to unifying science and the humanities - see his Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998) - into a single body of understanding. That's a big leap into the future, but we don't have to wait for the future to see some predictions coming out of the minds of our best economists today. Unfortunately, the forecasts coming out these post-Keynesian thinkers don't look too promising for the United States. Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard has the details through links to a Wall Street Journal article by the economist Arthur Laffer and another by The New York Times business correspondent David Barboza. Here's your link to Gaius's "All Aboard."When you read these articles they're going to make easy sense, almost too easy. For example, tax cuts that expire in 2011 will result in shifting income and production to 2010. That shift with dampen recovery or possibly lead to a double dip recession. Simple enough. I'm left with the impression that our "leadership" in Washington is either completely clueless interpreting the simplicity or looking forward to the unpleasantness as a means of establishing a Marxist state. OTR suggests a tight grip on reality. Could be a very rough ride.
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