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An economist apologises

There is absolutely no reason to think that Richard understands why PQE wouldn’t work as he thinks it would – that never crossed my mind – he is obviously sincere, not knowingly selling false goods

Translation: he’s ignorant, not deceptive.

22 thoughts on “An economist apologises”

  1. Interestingly, the offending blog which was put up by Frances and which caused all the libel toing and froing is one of the subjects of this critical Bill Mitchell blog

    http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=31711

    “The argument presented was this (I note it has been articulated in some detail on a blog the following day and the term “monetary snake oil” was used to describe PQE). I won’t link to it because it doesn’t warrant receiving traffic.”

  2. Our murph always reminds me of cyclist Richard Virenque, after he was caught cheating.

    T’other Ritchie said regarding the drugs he took –

    “à l’insu de mon plein gré”

    apparently something like

    “willingly but without knowing”

  3. Bloke in Costa Rica

    I think there comes a point when stupidity is so pervasive, so refractory to any countervailing arguments, so vituperative in its response to criticism, that it becomes malicious. That point appeared in Murphy’s rear-view mirror a long while back. To continue to extend to him the assumption of good faith seems overly credulous.

  4. Both Murphy and Coppola revealed themselves to be very thin-skinned in this spat. Neither comes out of it with any credit.

  5. Theo

    But Paddy does!

    I see Richard has accepted the apology in full and agreed to “move on”. Words fail me; they certainly didn’t fail Paddy. This could not have ended more beautifully.

  6. @ Frederick
    I have no idea whether Billy Mitchell is a serious economist.

    MMT seems to stand for Magic Money Tree in the referenced piece. The idea is that issuing more £ notes will instantaneously increase the wealth of the non-banking sector althought the total amount of bread and meat and vegetables and houses and cars and … will remain unchanged. Alternatively that Harry Potter’s magic wand will instantaneously increase the amount of bread and meat and vegetables and houses and cars pro rata with the increase in the number of £ notes in circulation. [Note that I say Harry Potter’s wand – Sir Pterry’s Discworld has rules of magic that are far too sensible for Messrs Mitchell and Murphy.]

  7. The apology isn’t worthy of the name – given the number of libels he and his cretinous Gang of acolytes have been guilty of over the years, he needs to be apologising for a late more – not least advocacy of policies that have indirectly caused the death of tens of millions. A truly nasty piece of work!

  8. I must offer my sincere apologies to Mr Richard Murphy.
    I used the term “snakeoil salesman” when referring to his various claims to be an entrepreneur, economist, political economist and tax expert. There is no reason to think he understands that having zero understanding or particular talent for any of these disciplines disqualifies one from making the claim. It never crossed my mind. Now, however, I can see the narcissistic psychopath is sincere in his delusion.
    Similarly it had never crossed my mind that he believed any of that MMT horse-shit and so seriously misunderstood the nature of money. I had imagined him sitting in his Norfolk shed and giggling as he stared at his screen and counted his bitcoins. Now, however, I accept his grasp of economic history is as tenuous as of economic theory.

    Once more I apologise. Can we just put it all behind us?

  9. @FC

    Arguing with Richie is like wrestling a pig. You might enjoy it for a moment but you will never win and you will end up smelling like s**t. The pig will enjoy it, even if he says he didn’t, and will probably use it to write several self-pitying blog posts to milk the sympathy of a few of his pig-like friends.

  10. Seems like Richie lives by the same motto as George W Bush:

    Don’t let the lack of ability stand in the way of your ambition.

  11. @Frances C – if you’re going to demand corrections and retractions for everything any lunatic says about you on the internet then 1) good luck 2) you’ll spend the rest of your life doing it and 3) it is prima facie evidence of a thin skin. Res ipsa loquitor as they say.

  12. Frances
    You were thin-skinned because Murphy is delusional and thick. And you are neither, so you could have shrugged it off.

  13. Murphy is widely read, influential, and has the ear of the next Leader of the Opposition. He’s not just some lunatic on the Web, sadly. What he says matters. So it makes sense to demand a retraction from him.

  14. I also think he was wrong about his libel claim, because there was no mention of a snake oil salesman, only of snake oil. The thing about snake oil is plenty of people believe it works. There was nothing in the piece that implied whether he was the salesman or a dupe.

  15. Squander

    The salesman gets his supplies from somewhere. If he genuinely believes in the product – is “sincere” in the parlance – then he is indeed a dupe.

  16. Frances

    Stick to your guns – I was absolutely aghast at his post until I realised you were merely the latest victim of his overweening ego. Congrats on drawing an apology, however partial – more than most on this site have managed…..

  17. Van_Spastic

    “most on this site” are up their own arses, despite Murphy.

    No one is more right than me. Show me anyone on the internet that is proved wrong.

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