This article is part I of III, of Mr. Zarlenga’s address at the Eastern Economic Association Annual Meeting in NYC on February 26th, 2011. Listen to it here.
The ongoing financial crisis presents a rare opportunity for monetary and banking reform. There’s no denying that the present “Economics Regime” has been a key cause of the pain, suffering, illness and even death inflicted on America’s less affluent; and of the worldwide economic destruction. It’s important that the economics profession be held to account for its part in this crisis. This was well expressed by economist James K. Galbraith in his testimony to the Senate Crime Subcommittee on May 4th, 2010:
“I write to you from a disgraced profession. Economic theory, as widely taught since the 1980s, failed miserably to understand the forces behind the financial crisis.”
With rare exceptions, those in control of the world’s monetary/economic agenda and the theories supporting it have helped bring the world to its knees. Shouldn’t they and their theories be held accountable?
False “monetary” beliefs have misdirected public policy decisions for decades with devastating effect! Errors of concept, methodology and even factual errors have led to disastrous outcomes for our nation and now have the potential to gradually take America down into an unprecedented abyss of lawlessness and deprivation. Consider the present insane calls for austerity.