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If only he knew, eh?

Most people think that economics is about money, that government spending is constrained by tax, and that public services must always come second to “balancing the books”.

All of that is wrong.

Quite, it’s not about any of those things. It’s the study of the allocation of scarce resources. Which is why “solving money” isn’t as grand an insight as some seem to think.

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Steve
Steve
7 months ago

Ritchie has no concept of value because, candidly, he has no theory of mind.

Hence the retarded clown car that is his blog, and his general inability to get on with people unless they’re Lord Ashcroft’s solicitors.

So he literally doesn’t understand that money has no inherent value beyond what it can be exchanged for. No grasp of normal human incentives, he thinks commands and compulsion are the same thing. Like a dim child who thinks farming is stupid, because we have supermarkets now.

Boddicker
Boddicker
7 months ago

On another post he has self diagnosed himself as autistic/adhd so does that mean we’re no longer allowed to call him a retard? I suppose this is necessary for his ambitions in the Green Party, he is limited as a fat white elderly man. Maybe he tried the bra and skirt, that didn’t suit, so go for autism.

Theophrastus
Theophrastus
7 months ago
Reply to  Boddicker

My brother-in-law is diagnosed as autistic – and he’s a pain! So Spud’s self-diagnosis doesn’t seem to me wide of the mark: obsessive, rigid, angry with disagreement etc…all fit.

Unfortunately, Spud cannot be sectioned – yet! – as his behaviour is not a “risk” to his health or safety or to other people.

Last edited 7 months ago by Theophrastus
Bloke in South Dorset
Bloke in South Dorset
7 months ago
Reply to  Theophrastus

His policies are a risk to the economy; is that enough?

Theophrastus
Theophrastus
7 months ago

No, unfortunately.

Van_Patten
Van_Patten
7 months ago
Reply to  Boddicker

Clarence

My amusement at that post is his notion that his ‘disability’ which I’ll candidly say ( to use his phrasing) is utter bullshit has very little to do with the price of fish.

If an ISIS headhacker comes to decapitate you do you think he’s going to give a flying fig whether you are ‘ADHD’? – the whole SEND enterprise smacks of a racket, and I speak as someone with a relative who has been diagnosed on the spectrum (Several actually) – apparently not only does his ‘disability’ entitle him to unlimited public largessee it means he has to be listened to above anyone not so diagnosed. It’s basically a narcissist’s charter, so ideal for someone so self – obsessed.

jgh
jgh
7 months ago
Reply to  Van_Patten

*EVERYBODY* is “on” the spectrum, that’s what “spectrum” bloody well means.

Norman
Norman
7 months ago
Reply to  Boddicker

Autistic people are capable of understanding concepts: it’s what they’re good at. Being autistic, which he likely is, is no excuse for failing to understand basic economics.

Theophrastus
Theophrastus
7 months ago
Reply to  Norman

Depends…the autistic, like my BiL, can be very rigid and limited in their application and interpretation of concepts. My BiL believes that ” the universe has it in for me”: every frustration is evidence for this…

Grikath
Grikath
7 months ago
Reply to  Theophrastus

Theo, your BiL is actually right…
The Universe *does* have it in for us. It tries to kill us in a myriad ways, and ultimately always wins. It’s a crooked game with loaded dice.

The trick is, of course, to not let it bother you, and where you can kick the Universe “Inna Fork, prefer’bly when’ee’s down”, as a mr. Nobbs so eloquently states, and get on with business.
Especially since all the other f*ckers around you seem to be bent on doing the same to you..

As a fellow Auti, seems your BiL has arrived at the *first* part of the Universal Truth, but seems to have not fleshed out the second part yet. Not sufficiently at least.

Or else you would not have used “can be very rigid and limited in their application and interpretation of concepts” at him. Not twice anyway..

Doesn’t make you many friends, but it *sure as hell* gets the Proselytisers off your neck so you can have that peace and quiet you crave.

Ironman
Ironman
7 months ago
Reply to  Boddicker

Geppetto should never have made him!

Bloke in North Dorset
Bloke in North Dorset
7 months ago
Reply to  Boddicker

On another post he has self diagnosed himself as autistic/adhd

Of course he has, anyone who can make the holocaust be about him shouldn’t have any problem making himself autistic/adhd.

Bloke in North Dorset
Bloke in North Dorset
7 months ago
Reply to  Boddicker

On another post he has self diagnosed himself as autistic/adhd

Of course he has, anyone who can make the Holocaust about himself shouldn’t have any problem making himself any condition he wants.

Martin Near The M25
Martin Near The M25
7 months ago

Most people think that economics is about money …”

That’s rich. He’s probably the most money obsessed person I’ve ever come across. Mostly other people’s and how to steal it.

Van_Patten
Van_Patten
7 months ago

‘You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear, oh, woah’

This is too hilarious not to share from the pompously entitled ‘The importance of Enlightenment’ post (as though this bastard has even the slightest thing in common with what I would call Enlightenment)

‘I discussed whether I should publish the articles that I have put out on autism, ADHD, AuDHD and related issues this morning with somebody who most definitely has the last of these conditions, and then went through a risk analysis with them based on my disclosure that I strongly suspect that I also have both such conditions.
Their immediate reaction was:

You know that your opponents will now use this to say that you don’t understand what life is like for normal people because you think that you are not neurotypical, and they will use this to dismiss you?

We discussed this, and they made clear that there were three issues to highlight.

First, they said:

You need to point out that this is nonsense.

The reality of life for a person with any of these conditions is that they have to become an acute observer of what is regarded as “normal behaviour” and learn by observation what it is so that they can comply with it, which is the demand that neurotypical people make of those with ASD, ADHD and AuDHD.

In other words, the non-neurotypical person becomes more aware of what it is to be neurotypical than neurotypicals themselves know, precisely because they have spent so long studying it that you can imitate it to perfection, even though it is something tney will never be.

Impressive levels of bullshit – but the kicker is that surely the reverse is true. Someone iooking at ADHD and Autistic behaviour of a malign intent can see that if they behave in such a fashion , they will be treated more favourably – getting more funding, potentially their school transport paid etc.

It’s very akin to some bird seeing how council houses are allocated and thinking – if I get knocked up I go to the top of the queue. As in so many instances – incentives matter. But of course it only works one way for him because, as we all know – he is special.

They then put this another way:

The life of the person with ASD, ADHD or AuDHD is, in fact, the equivalent of somebody who is almost perfectly bilingual, but who has been forced to spend their life speaking their second language. That’s because of the demands of those for whom that is their first language who, firstly, refuse to recognise there is even a second language and, secondly, if they do then most definitely refuse to learn it.

I found these insights really helpful. This is what living with these conditions is like, expressed better than I could put it, because the person I consulted has spent far more time dealing with the consequences of their diagnosis, and the need for it, than I have ever dedicated to the subject.

But again it ignores the fact that there are people who do learn other languages, whether for pleasure or for commercial reasons. Additionally, who are these ‘neurotypical’ people – while the Disability rights mob lack the aggressiveness of the Gender, Race or LGBT Alphabet Soup types when it comes to identity politics it’s still the same shtick. Divide and conquer. Why the actual F£$% should you get special treatment?

They then made their third suggestion, which was this.

What you really need to do is highlight that these are not diagnoses as such. They are, more properly, discoveries.

After all, these conditions are not a sickness, but are instead descriptions of the difficulties people have fitting into a world that does not wish to accept the way non-neurotypical people are.

The reality is that life with these conditions can be great. There is absolutely no reason why not. In fact, those with them often bring what might be called superpowers with them, which can be liberating and enormously valuable to society.

For example, the reason why so many people with one or both of these conditions are so creative is that they have to develop deep insights because they have to observe the world acutely, and therefore understand its peculiarities, which they can highlight in their work as both participants and observers.

There is also a very good reason why so many comedians have one or more of these conditions, and that is that they can, in particular, see what is so funny about so much behaviour because, once again, they have to observe it so closely.

That’s right of course – Murphy is a genius and he found someone (one of the many imaginary friends he consults with) who recognises his genius. Fantastic.And of course he is a creative genius

  • SCA
  • The Fair Tax Mark
  • Quantum Economics
  • New principles of accountancy
  • The Green New Deal
  • The Taxing Wealth Report

We’re privileged to have such a polymath in our midst

  • In my own case, I think my understanding, reached some decades ago, that I was an INTJ in Myers–Briggs terms, and more recently that I am a person most likely with AuDHD, has helped me appreciate:Why systems thinking is what I am most suited to.

Systemic thinking on a profoundly incorrect basis is still wrong, whatever the degree of systematisation.

  • Why I am inclined to work on my own, and not in organisations or groups, most especially of any size.

So the inability to get on with anyone for a period of time is due to a disability – convenient

  • Why I am not inclined to be a politician.

But yet you seek to dictate every aspect of the life of every individual in the UK without the need for elective office. As Tears for Fears said ‘Everybody wants to rule the world’

  • Why, much as I enjoy public events, I can only cope with doing them occasionally. I always need space after such events to recover, because that is what a deep introvert always does, even if they have learned to be profoundly socially proficient, as I think I have.

Yes – after all blocking 20,000 people and calling any opponent a fascist demonstrates profound social proficiency

I share these observations in the hope that they might enlighten others as well.

Yes – it’ll go down on a par with Gibbon in the historical lexicon

It’s beyond parody.

Ironman
Ironman
7 months ago

These Is a magic money tree
But there is no magic resource tree

Ed P
Ed P
7 months ago

I suppose the ignorant masses who ‘follow’ this cretin are convinced Spud has economic knowledge which will help them. More fool them.
The fellow is barking mad – I’ve been waiting for a coherent statement from him for years now.
Perhaps he’s one of those anti-indicators which the stock exchange love – whatever he says, do the opposite.
Deluded and solitary, banned from pubs, the sad madman plays with his trains and dreams of recognition, which will never come.

Marius
Marius
7 months ago

It’s the study of the allocation of scarce resources

I seem to recall that being on the first page, maybe in the first paragraph, of my A level economics textbooks. Clearly Spud found the covers too neoliberal and binned them unopened

Gamecock
Gamecock
7 months ago

It’s the study of the allocation of scarce resources.

Ronald Reagan: “Fuck that. We’re America. We’ll just make more.”

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