Someone needs to Occupy the Chicago School of Economics.

[mmonk]

Go to the source of this unfettered madness.

[Dreamer Tatum]

1. You want to occupy a school of thought?

In any case, the Chicago school might have been worth "occupying" in 1956. You're a few decades too late.

[mmonk]

2. Never too late if you want to avoid being one of its experiments.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Experiments? Like which? References, please. Specific ones. nt

[mmonk]

4. Chile, Iraq, Argentina....surely you can add some.

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. Yeah, I was pretty sure you have no idea what you're talking about.

Chicago econ is a group of math geeks. Always has been.

But according to you, they're what, mercenaries? :rofl:

[mmonk]

9. Yep. I know nothing.

If this shock approach were adopted, I believe that it should be announced publicly in great detail, to take effect at a very close date. The more fully the public is informed, the more will its reactions facilitate the adjustment.
-Milton Freidman in a letter to General Augusto Pinochet, April 21, 1975

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. favor me - what specifically was Friedman talking about?

Be specific.

[mmonk]

33. Implementing Chicago school reforms of the Chilean economy.

The economic advisors of his overthrow of Allende' were Chicago School trained. He was advsing him to explain his reforms to the people so they would accept it (as if they had any choice).

[Capitalocracy]

13. Have you read the Shock Doctrine?

Serious question.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. I'm familiar with it. What does occupying U of C solve in that regard?

Especially since Friedman is (a) dead, and (b) hasn't been there in decades?

Why not occupy his old apartment building in San Francisco?

Why not occupy his graveyard?

[Capitalocracy]

20. I could go for occupying his graveyard. Not a bad idea. nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

22. Be my guest. Knock yourself out. All of the zero people who see you will immediately get it.

:eyes:

[dameocrat67]

26. friedman started out as a math geek at the u of chicago

too. you act as if math geeks dont hire themselves out as mercinaries. lots of them do. look at all the math geeks working for goldman.

[Chan790]

6. We could burn the building in effigy.

:freak:

There is an actual building at U of Chicago, you know.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. Um, yeah - I sort of GOT MY PHD IN ECON FROM THERE. nt

[Marr]

8. Ooh, internet credentials!

I'm quivering with credulity.

Much has been written on the Chicago school's influence on policy in South and Central America. If you did in fact manage to get a degree from the University of Chicago and remain ignorant of this history, well-- I wouldn't be bragging about it.

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. From people who went there and then went home to implement it.

And I give exactly zero fucks what you believe. The dept was and is chock full of smart people from all over the world
who learn economic theory and then go run banks back home. If you think the faculty is full of right wingers, you're mistaken.
Since you can't provide specifics beyond the names of countries, your credibility is the one in question.

But be my guest - go sit outside Becker's office.

[Capitalocracy]

17. These people destroyed the countries they went back home to.

They were instrumental in the military dictatorships that killed and tortured on a massive scale and implemented economic policies that created widespread poverty and slave labor economies.

You can say what you want about the people who study there now and I'll take your word for it, but 60 years ago and the decades following, they were the center of fascist economic ideology in the world.

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. Sorry to burst your rage bubble

but they were jolly little men who drank a lot of coffee, wrote a lot of papers, and taught a lot of students.

It really is that simple. Sorry you don't like it.

[Capitalocracy]

28. Hey, I understand. If there's one thing they teach you at the Chicago School of Economics...

it's how to burst bubbles.

[bloomington-lib]

35. +1

[EFerrari]

41. LOL

[chill_wind]

49. !

LOL! :-)

[Marr]

19. You're confusing me with someone else.

I didn't list any countries.

I'm well aware that these people have tended to go back home and run banks. That's where their influence has been felt, and they've done very serious damage in that capacity. That's what's being discussed here. Try to focus that keen, 'smart person' mind for a moment.

[dd2003]

11. with someone with actual cred on here

What are your thoughts on Pomo and Twist

[Dreamer Tatum]

14. Not in favor of Op Twist, in general. nt

[dd2003]

16. much agreed

are you a professor or just work in corporate finance? its amazing how the two sometimes have different views

[Dreamer Tatum]

18. Both, but I am on the microfoundations side, not the macro side. Macro was misery. nt

[dd2003]

23. cool stuff

I was an econ anlayst and then at a big 4 doing valuation advisory and now work in supply chain management. Im always glad to see someone on here who actually understands what is going on, yet presents a sensible view.

[girl gone mad]

30. It's never too late to get a useful education. n/t

[mmonk]

32. Ah, now we understand your indignation.

Are we not in this position due to it's philosophy and economic "reforms"? You see my post secondary education is in economics as well. I was studying economics between the great debate Freidman styled economics and Keynesianism. You do know the school was considered a little radical when it began?

[undeterred]

40. And did they teach you how to think or what to think?

[Occulus]

42. pssst... that's nothing to brag about...

and really harms your credibility.

Seriously. I'd keep that a secret if I were you. That is most definitely not something to be proud of.

[Dreamer Tatum]

43. Go count the Nobels and report back. nt

[Occulus]

44. Those are trumped by the bodies and ruined lives.

I suggest you read some history. Getting a degree from that department of that school is not something to be proud of.

[Dreamer Tatum]

45. Sure it is. You're just ignorant, which can be forgiven.

Go read, preferably something not on a website. Learn something - it will make you a smarter and more tolerable person.

[Capitalocracy]

46. Look, since we're on the same website, I know we're on the same side here...

and I don't want to pee on your Cheerios by dissing your school, but I suggest you read up on some history yourself, starting with the Shock Doctrine. There is a reason people here who know about these things (and in my case, who live in the nations that have been affected by them) are pissed off at the Chicago Boys. They did more than just teach and drink coffee and write and come up with economic theories, they worked with military dictatorships and encouraged human rights violations as a means of getting their economic policies enacted. And the economic policies they enacted in this way caused almost as much suffering as the human rights violations themselves.

You're not going to make any inroads here denying these things happened. It would be better to defend your school by demonstrating that things have changed.

[dameocrat67]

25. not really

you act like Obama and many of his economic advisors dont come from there. Neoliberalism is still very strong there and you are not proof to the contrary, frankly.

[Capitalocracy]

24. Well, K&R from me

If only to promote people learning their history, it's a good idea.

[dameocrat67]

27. good idea since it is still producing apologist for wallstreet to this very day

look at all the prowallstreet advisors in the obama adminstration that are facilty there.

[MFrohike]

29. Posner

That man is a blight on American law.

[girl gone mad]

31. I think Galbraith said it best.

“The inability of Friedman’s successors to say anything useful about what’s happening in financial markets today means their influence is finished"

They are kaput. No one with a brain in their head would adhere to the opinions of the Chicago School cult at this point.

[mmonk]

34. +1

[undeterred]

36. Go to the real source...occupy the kindergartens!

Stop teaching children to read!

[mmonk]

37. Laugh if you like. Or believe unfettered free markets with no restraints

are a pure science of economics. You're living it.

[undeterred]

39. You go to the University of Chicago Econ dept to learn HOW to think, not what to think.

It would make more sense to occupy the U of C Business school. Lots of mindless robots there.

[girl gone mad]

47. That's not true.

The Chicago School adheres strictly to neoclassical economics. They are not at all open-minded toward modern economic theories. They even reject Keynes for the most part.

[Odin2005]

38. Occuy it? Meh, why not burn it to the ground?

[chill_wind]

48. k & R.

Amusing that it's even still that controversial of an idea here.

[dd2003]

50. Probably the worst thread i a have seen here

The smartest people in the world attend there and they are not mindless robots. They can think for themselves and decide what to believe in this supposed brainwashing. The material is the same at the top business schools. They are not being brainwashed.

[RegieRocker]

51. You want to attack the conspiracy generator and it's method

of distribution to the general public?

Good one!