Should economists be banned from TV?

MrMatisse

From an Interview with Dennis O brien on rte.ie

Mr O'Brien also said the country's third level sector supported 250 academic economists whom he accused of 'writing blogs, twittering and taking out ads to stop NAMA'.
He said they generally made a nuisance of themselves - which would be fine if 99% of them had not failed to predict the economic meltdown facing the country. He said the other 1% predicted doom all the time.
'I have a sense that all these economists need to come and work for real businesses to really understand how the economy works and see the actual stress and strain of running a business... only then will they have something to contribute,'

That_Guy

Stick every economist in the Big Brother house. Riveting TV awaits.

Hard Larry

Yes.




Wait...are there any hot female economists?

if there are then...no.

Dyr

If they worked in real businesses they'd understand realities like having to bribe ministers to make your fortune.

That_Guy

Hard Larry wrote: »

Yes.




Wait...are there any hot female economists?

if there are then...no.

What do women know about the economy............

/controversial.

number10a

You may as well have witch doctors, or an old traveller fortune teller woman predicting what's happening than to have them. They're completely useless!! For the last 6-9 months we've been hearing that the worst is nearly over us!! You can only keep pushing that line for so long like.........

This is what Futurama predicts economists will be like in the future. I think we may as well introduce this now:

Joey the lips

David mcwilliams is god. Always enjoy listening to him

George lee has gone way down in my estimates!

Seillejet

That a good point on female economists. I cant think of one.

Google has helped me out though. Kirsten Kara Madden.

Mardy Bum

They actually predicted quite a few things but the government sent them packing because it wasn't good news when the Celtic tiger was going the right way. They warned the government about their increasing expenditure in the budgets and told them to save but Bertie told them to a running jump of a cliff or something along those lines.
The EU also had a chirp at McCreevy to ease up on the spending but did he care? Nope!

mike65

If they were banned from TV that would mean more time for politicians to spend bullshtting without getting challanged.

That_Guy

mike65 wrote: »

If they were banned from TV that would mean more time for politicians to spend bullshtting without getting challanged.

They should do a Gladiators special with Economists V Politicians. It'd be fooking savage I tells ya!!!

meditraitor

Economists are like art students, cop out from the real world. Not one of them has a clue what they are talking about. The walter mitty crew.
Making up crap all the time, the weather is more dependable than those shower!

WindSock

That_Guy wrote: »

What do women know about the economy............

/controversial.

A lot

Fighting Irish

Nothing should be banned from TV

brianthebard

If they're educating people about NAMA then there should be more of them on TV.

ejmaztec

WindSock wrote: »

A lot

but mostly "supply and demand".:p

Royale with Cheese

I'm sure economists have their uses, but going on tv and making shít predictions isn't one of them.

ejmaztec

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I'm sure economists have their uses, but going on tv and making shít predictions isn't one of them.

They should keep politicians off the tv for the same reason.

Nodin

Really-Stressed wrote: »

Should economists be banned from TV?
,'

They should have to go through a quick test. They are asked to pronounce the word "Dart". Answers that sound like "Dort" disqualify them from TV, Radio and audio streams on the net for life. They can do what they want in the papers.

gerry87

It's the economists job to keep things running smoothly, not predict the future. If they think we're in the middle of a bubble and voice their opinions, they're deemed nay-sayers. We all remember bertie's suicide quip.

All banks and most large businesses have economists, so most of them are in "the real world".

The thing is they often serve as advisory type roles, when they agree with what the higher-ups want they're rolled out as the economists seal of approval, but if they don't agree they're ignored and pawned off as "academics" with "Well that's great in theory but this is the real world", then bad things happen and... "why didn't you see this coming??".

Maybe be careful about the economist you're believing, a Bank of Ireland economist on tv is giving his Bank of Ireland approved opinion, not necessarily the opinion he's giving within the bank, unlike independent ones.

Agricola

Some not all. McWilliams and George Lee were doom and glooming 2/3 years ago, while everyone else was busy maxing their credit cards. They've been sayin for years that the practise of relying on taxation from property construction was a cod. This was at the same time that Bertie was sayin he was sick listenin to guff like this and that the "boom was gettin boomer"

I say we should keep em. Just because ya dont like to hear bad news doesnt mean it isnt valid news

Zebra3

Never mind banning them from tv, shouldn't they all just go hang themselves like Blankcheque Bertie suggested?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Ulysses Gaze

meditraitor wrote: »

Economists are like art students, cop out from the real world. Not one of them has a clue what they are talking about. The walter mitty crew.
Making up crap all the time, the weather is more dependable than those shower!

The University Economists got it right, for the most part. The 'Real World' economists such as 'Desperate' Dan McLaughlin and 'Comical' Austin Hughes got it so spectacularly wrong that it was laughable.

'The Walter Mitty' crew. Sounds like you were listening to that lying, thieving cnut Ahern during the week.

thee glitz

There's no(t much) harm having the academics on the airwaves. We'd be a lot better off if we'd listened to the
likes of McWilliams and Morgan Kelly. In general though, most of these lads are living miles away from reality. If
you want to know what's happening in the economy, look at your own situation and that of your friends. There
were a few lads coutinuously spoutin bs from the property/mortgage industry who fuelled the bubble. I can't
decide if they were very dishonest or a bit slow. In the end, I do believe they actually believed what they were saying.
Any private sector economist on tv should carry a 'for entertainment only' warning, like them psychics.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

meditraitor wrote: »

Economists are like art students, cop out from the real world. Not one of them has a clue what they are talking about. The walter mitty crew.
Making up crap all the time, the weather is more dependable than those shower!

Care to elaborate? Or, as someone else said, can are you trying to pass off not handling bad news and listening to valid warnings as someone else's fault?

994

Seillejet wrote: »

That a good point on female economists. I cant think of one.

Google has helped me out though. Kirsten Kara Madden.

Elinor Ostrom, only woman to win the Nobel Prize.

It is typically irish for O'Brien to equate opposition to a government proposal with dangerous sedition, and suggest that such enemies of the state be fired from their posts.

Nate--IRL--

From what I've seen, it was the Commercial Economists, that always had the loudest message. Remember the "soft landing"? The commercial economists were paid to promote the agenda of their employers, and did so admirably. The media usually took their press releases and reprinted/broadcast it word for word. Is that journalism? It is certainly lazy. No objective analysis of their message.

Then we have the Academic economists, who's agenda were they serving when they provided analysis of the Irish economic situation for the last decade?

I know which type of economist I'd prefer to have been heeded, but most people would have received only the message of the Commercial economists, as they had the more effective media machine, and it was their job to manipulate it to get their message (financial propaganda?) across.

Nate

Mardy Bum

Academic economists are paid to teach and research not paid to promote big business I'd know what sort of economist I'd listen to. Politicians are the main reason why the country is in this mess expansionary budgets, tax incentives-at the wrong times, lack of saving etc all are factors in the current crisis.

The property bubble is the main reason Ireland and England are in the doom stage compared to the rest of Europe which didn't experience it. Now its finished the economy will fluctuate until it reaches a point that wont be as high before but will be better than the current point. This was an inevitable occurrence that the government failed to prepare for. They are the ones who should be taking the blame not economists economists advise, the politicians made the decisions!

The_Minister

Mardy Bum wrote: »

The EU also had a chirp at McCreevy to ease up on the spending but did he care? Nope!

Eh?
McCreevy did try, and he was sent off to Europe because of it.

McCreevy wanted to cut spending, pay down the national debt, and save more.
The only reason we have the pension fund is because of him, and he wanted more to go into it.

Overheal

The Weathergirl said it would be bright and sunny today.

Its ****ing freezing out, overcast, and rainy.

I want her banned from television.

orourkeda

Can we ban John and Edward?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Overheal wrote: »

The Weathergirl said it would be bright and sunny today.

Its ****ing freezing out, overcast, and rainy.

I want her banned from television.

Forget the trival crap: does she have nice tits?

Anyway, there is a stark differene here: the weathergirl actually got it wrong.

ejmaztec

The_Minister wrote: »

Eh?
McCreevy did try, and he was sent off to Europe because of it.

McCreevy wanted to cut spending, pay down the national debt, and save more.
The only reason we have the pension fund is because of him, and he wanted more to go into it.

So McCreevy the Chartered Accountant gets sent packing by the teacher-lawyer-bogger TDs?

Yes, that fits.:(

Arnold Layne

ejmaztec wrote: »

So McCreevy the Chartered Accountant gets sent packing by the teacher-lawyer-bogger TDs?

Yes, that fits.:(

I think he was sent packing by the thief that claims to be an accountant

Kinky Slinky

I haven't seen Eddie Hobbs since the start of the recession

Mardy Bum

The_Minister wrote: »

Eh?
McCreevy did try, and he was sent off to Europe because of it.

McCreevy wanted to cut spending, pay down the national debt, and save more.
The only reason we have the pension fund is because of him, and he wanted more to go into it.

What about the Stability and Growth Pact did he not break its measures? I think he did! And yes I know it wasnt the best policy in the first place but he still broke it.