tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850462849314268040.post7849915722322211357..comments2024-03-10T00:26:57.262-08:00Comments on The Dance of the Hippo: Default assumptionsKarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11654006671545294361noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850462849314268040.post-5630122231054360602013-08-17T19:22:02.598-07:002013-08-17T19:22:02.598-07:00You get to ask those questions if you're an an...You get to ask those questions if you're an anthropologist. ;-)<br /><br />Seriously, though, you've touched on a lot of the things that have always seemed odd to me about economics.<br /><br />I have often wondered why it seems that a large, rich, capitalist country like the United States, that is full of very smart people, can't seem to solve any of its problems unless somebody can figure out a way to make a profit from the solution.<br /><br />I have also wondered at the way economics seems to be the study of economies as discreet entities without context.<br /><br />When you combine those two observations, you get government that is unwilling to do anything that will interfere with the profit of companies, even when those companies are doing things that hurt "mere" people.<br /><br />Economies are supposed to serve the needs of people. It is possible that some folks would argue about what "the needs of people" consists of. Is it more important that Archer Daniel Midland employ a certain number of people or that they are required to stop manufacturing faux food that is saturated in sodium, sugars and unpronounceable chemicals and sell us real food instead?<br /><br />Some market purists insist that, because processed food kills one more slowly than does cyanide, there is no reason for the government to interfere with its manufacture (although they are rarely that frank about it). It's kind of crazy but there are those who would say it's what has made America great. Dawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761046108038617276noreply@blogger.com