Lol, I knew it would be some libertarian who read some 'Austrian school' pamphlet and now thinks he knows enough to run the world. Few people are as condescendingly didactic as Randists and 'Austrians'.
Someone call my name? Academic types usually make lousy traders. They <i>think</i> they should stand at the very top of the market food chain, but to their chagrin they find impatient & aggressive ADD types with little or no formal education occupying their rightful throne.
An <b>Imam</b> is the terrorist who leads the Muslim call to prayer. <i>"Alllahhu Akbar- Allah Hu Akbar! Ashad al-Mohammad Rasul Allah! La illah- illah la!"</i> Yes, I know the shit by heart. Don't ask.
Jesus H Christ I guess nobody can have an alternate view of the mainstream economics? "If you don't agree with me then you are wrong" I guess you are also calling Mr. Greenspan a kool aid drinker too since he was also a Randian?
So you still won't give it up, eh? I don't know what sort of traders academics make, in general. However, though 'Elite Traders' may not like to admit it, there have been at least a few pretty good ones (that come to mind). (I wonder if on a percentage basis, more academics fail at trading than regular joes?) The point wasn't about trading, though, it was about running the economy. I've detected more of the 'rightful throne' sort of arrogance in 'Austrians' than I have in, say, neo-Keynesians or New-Classicals. (You can probably tell I've been reading up on it. I'm going back to school, so yeah.)
Well, on objective questions, yes! At least one of us is, anyway. But isn't it 'Austrians' that typically get up in your face if you reject their reasoning or their policy proposals? That's been my experience. It's not about drinking kool aid. (Relax, sheesh!) I've read some essays of his from the 60s. I'm pretty sure he would have recanted most of those views today. At least the parts of them based on pure Randian reasoning. If he hasn't, well, I wouldn't call him mentally unstable - as Randists tend to; at least Rand herself did - just simply wrong.
This has nothing to with the thread or the gold standard(LOL), but the s.n. is "I'm a mic" like microphone. PH for penthouse. That's it. It's got nothing to do with Imams or islam.
My knee-jerk reaction was to agree until I started thinking about Bruce Kovner, William Eckhardt, Richard Dennis, Victor Niederhoffer, Helmut Weymar, Michael Marcus, etc. All of them either have PhDs or were graduate students. The best traders I've ever met were-overachieving, analytical and very smart. Those however are not sufficient conditions -- but they sure help.