Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Why Don't They Understand Economics?" video.

@russcarvertruthjedi259 I'm an aerospace engineer who works in industrial automation and control systems. I'm Australian but went to college in America. So I have a pretty good handle on America but also see it from an outside perspective. My biggest concern right now is how like America Australia is becoming. Our politics are more divisive than ever with an insane desire by our Right to spend as much as possible on the military while deregulating as much as they can. Our Left is an inept mix of too many policies that confuse them as much as they confuse us. I've spent a chunk of my COVID time getting my head around economics. That started because I'm tired of clowns with economics degrees belting every proposal senseless with their mantra of "who's going to pay for that" as they waste money on useless things. That's not to say everyone with an economics degree is a clown just as I know most engineers are NOT the problem solvers they think they are. Our problem here is that our economists have too much power and influence and too little grasp of the reality that we live in a technological society and that's why they make so many bad decisions. The person I listen to the most is Mark Blyth (Brown U.) and that's because he uses "system analysis" methods very similar to what aerospace engineers use except we call it "systems engineering." In the simplest way in aerospace we can't just simply make a change to any part of a system get an outcome. We have to consider the effects of a change to all the other parts of a system and the consequences of those effects because everything is to tightly coupled from everything being designed so close to their limits. If you listen to any of Marks lectures like the 3 he did at McMaster in June 2019 he talks about systems, effects and consequences. Via the Watson Institute he's interviewed people like Adam Tooze, Albena Azmanova, Fiona Hill, Eric Helleiner, Elizabeth Berman, Stephanie Kelton and others about books they've written. If you go thought some of those he's always looking for explanations between history, politics and economics. I have just gotten copies of Angrynomics, The Defecit Myth (Kelton) and Adam Smith (WoN), plus a couple of Piketty's. If you are going to do a podcast on the things you are talking about Mark should be one of your first people.
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@russcarvertruthjedi259 Our political chaos is nothing like America's but its on that same path. We even have a rogue billionaire by the name of Clive Palmer who has simply copied Trumps 2016 playbook and going with it. The difference here is our system is set up differently. Our House of representatives is similar to the House in America but our Senate is completely different and its where minor parties get representation. Our Senate is selected by a "single transferable vote system of proportional representation." Hypothetically if a state has 10 senators and your minor party can get 10% of the basic vote you get 1 senator and if you get 20% you get 2. So its easily possible for a minor party to get what we call "the balance of power" which is where NEITHER of the main parties wins an outright majority and needs other people to pass bills. If we get a responsible minor party it works fine, but as has been shown in places like Israel, Greece, Italy and other places if the "balance of power" is held by a nasty pack of ruthless selfish rats its chaos. You don't need to tell me about American history, I wasn't a 1 semester exchange student I was on a sports scholarship and was there 3-1/2years (7 semesters in all). Among my frat brothers were a pack of pre-law students and they used to drag me into all sorts of hypothetical arguments over the Amendments. Mainly #4, then #1 and occasionally others. So I got this unusual education in the US Constitution and I can out argue most Americans on it because I was surrounded by people training to argue it. I am certain these days they dragged me into those discussions because I threw different perspectives into the mix. You don't need to explain things like the F15. I did aerospace engineering and understand all that stuff pretty well. And I can explain the state of NASA in more detail than you can. I was in Orlando in 12 January 1986 and watched Columbia take off. We were 60 miles away and it looked like it was next door. 16 days later me and my classmates went to our first class of the day and before it ended Challenger exploded and with it all that we expected to do. And we expected to build the new space station then called "Space Station Freedom" and then go back to the moon before going further. My aerodynamics prof lost a friend on Challenger so that hit us real personal. If you want to do a podcast on it I can explain where it all went wrong. When I put forward my proposal for an Australian space program I detailed why Apollo was an incredible success and the shuttle a failure that NASA has not recovered from and what we needed to do to avoid the same failures. I can explain IN DETAIL how Jeff Bezos is an idiot over his claim to shift all the heavy industry into orbit and how Elon Musk is even more full of shite than Bezos. The amazing thing about SpaceX is that Falcon is an incredible success and Starship is a brainless fantasy. Where do you want to start?
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@russcarvertruthjedi259 If I sound knowledgeable its only because I have MADE an EFFORT and started listening to people who know what they are talking about. Right now I'm listening to another podcast Eric Helleiner did on the history of Neomercantilists. Its got most of the same slides he used with one of his talks with Mark Blyth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bixjqUKovA The more I listen to it the more I am understanding there's a 3rd area of economics other than Marxism and Liberalism. Marxism with its class struggle sadly produced its ugly twin political sisters communism and socialism that rather than addressing class issues entrenched them in totalitarianism. Liberalism brought many freedoms and blessings before it too birthed its only child neo-liberalism and like all "only children" its an infinitely selfish child that can never be satisfied. Then there's the 3rd system Mercantilism which cam out of Britain's industrial revolution and a host of similar but slightly different children called neomercantilists which to get a grasp on you need to watch these Eric Helleiner vids or buy the book.
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@russcarvertruthjedi259 I am of the opinion like many others that America is ALREADY a fascist oligarchy. On oligarchs this has just been put on YouTube about the expansion of JBS meats into Australia. JBS is a Brazilian company owned by 2 brothers and when you see this your first question will be where did that much money suddenly come from? Then it will be How TF are they not in jail? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYfIXLkoB68 What you should ask is where did they suddenly get enough money to by Swift Meat in America. The Brazilian Government doesn't have that much money to just hand out to buy American companies - SO WHERE DID IT COME FROM? Who in South America has billions and billions of dollars in cash and needs legitimate businesses to wash it through?
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@SteelBalor On your analysis here. I pretty much agree on all that you've said with one exception. I think you are being lenient on Obama. I accept he did manage to do some great things, most notably getting elected, but even more importantly NOT having any major scandal. My brother pointed that out to me one day. He's spent time in America too and pointed out that it must have driven the GOP bonkers NOT to have something to go after Obama. Carter had his brother Billy, Clinton had Monica and Joe has Hunter. What did Obama do that was scandalous? BUT Obama never wound back Reaganomics or globalization despite the obvious signs they were damaging America. By his own admission, his economic policies were just like Reagans and I consider Reagan the WORST of all of America's presidents in my lifetime. Not because he was a criminal (like others) but because he set America on the destructive path that lead to Trump. Reaganomics as we now know were based around an agglomeration of Freidman "Greed is Good" idiocy and Libertarian de-regulate everything stupidity. You add that together and you get things like the Boeing Max-8 while the top 1% make $55 Trillion as the middle class goes nowhere and the bottom 50% go backwards. I was doing me degree in aerospace when Reagan was doing "Star Wars." We all knew it was stupid but the money was too good. A grad student in one of my classes - his work was the deciding factor in a $2Billion contract and that's 1987 dollars. Where Obama is coming unstuck is his desire to remain relevant. He's sadly put "his legacy" (as he put it during Hilary's disastrous 2016 campaign) to be more important than the American people. He was clearly better than the stupidity of the Bush era and better behaved that Clinton or Trump but he never RESET America after the 2008 GFC. Yes I've taken note of Mark Blyth's computer analogy, but I am an engineer. On Biden - he's definitely less destructive than the wrecking ball Trump was, but then he's not strong enough to be the solution America needs. A stronger person would have simply smacked Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin into place and made sure Trump was impeached for Jan 6th. Jan 6th truly astounds me. How TF did America get to that and how did people like Mitch McConnell excuse it and pay no price? I know that if I had told any of my friends in the 80s that Jan 6th would happen in our lifetime they would have put me in a straight jacket and tossed me in the nearest asylum.
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@FreeDumbDaily Go and check Mark Blyth (Brown U.) on the concept of Austerity.
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@russcarvertruthjedi259 I wouldn't call anything the Russians or any other of the Soviet satellite states that claimed to be communist or socialist state "liberal" My point (and its been my point for decades) is that ANYONE who takes any ideology to some extreme position is a serious threat to society. Kill of anyone who can argue the law and anyone who can teach anything other than doctrine. Why do you think the radical half of the GOP are relentless in their attacks on education? Look at the CRT dog whistle effort. Its nothing more than a way to attack education. No society can survive when you have people doing that sort of thing. When ideology takes over from logic and common sense ANY society is in trouble. Jordan Peterson (before his drug fallout) when he was pretty good at discussing psychology pointed out regularly that its pretty easy to identify when people on the right who have become radicalised - they become racist and quite often nationalistic or tribal. He said its far less clear for people who are radicalised on the left because their radicalisation takes different forms. BUT I would contend its easier than he suggested if you just consider how they place ideology over logic. Its the same thing Left or Right people who are radicalised have just dropped all sense of logic (or common sense) and allow their ideology to EXCUSE horrendous acts. here's 2 of the most notable examples. Pol Pot (leftist) murdered millions Hitler (right) murdered millions And both used their ideology as the excuse.
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