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What are the biggest misconceptions people have about economics

They Think They Understand It
It’s a Friday night. You head down to your corner bar to grab a drink and unwind from a long week. Just as the liquid slips down your throat you over hear the conversation of the people next to you. What’re they talking about? Oh but politics and the economy of course! Everyone and their mother knows what’s wrong with it and how to fix it.
I can’t tell you how many times I run into people that speak with such confidence on matters of micro and macro economics without having the slightest clue what they’re talking about. Rambling on about this and that and how if they did it their way we’d all live in an utopian paradise. They’ve formed a solid opinion about a sliver of an economic problem and suddenly they’ve become a professor on the matter.
The stone cold truth is that most people don’t know what they’re talking about, even outside of just economics. It’s not politically correct to say so, but I’m not going to twist the truth cause it’s sour. From foreign policy, international affairs, economics, etc, a majority of people just don’t know what they’re talking about. Sometimes even financial professionals and academics, the people who get paid to ponder on economic theory & process, don’t understand it in it’s entirety. If they did we’d be able to prevent horrible economic downturns before they ravaged whole nations of their wealth. Economics, much like politics is an ever changing and fluid environment where what may have been true yesterday may not necessarily be true tomorrow.
In an interview with Men’s Journal, Tony Robbins, mentioned that when he interviewed Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and asked him what he’d do if he were still chairman of the reserve, Greenspan replied he’d resign. If we put aside the belief some hold that Greenspan engineered the financial collapse of 2008, you have an accomplished economist who’s admitting to not having a clue how to remedy a situation and so would quit the job. Seems to be a pretty bleak and complex situation if such an experienced man is throwing his hat down. If this man isn’t sure what to do with his years of education & experience as an economist, then I’m not sure how any of us who have no frame of reference whatsoever, have the right to a fierce opinion.
Economics is hard, really hard. It’s hard to understand it for one nation. We live today in a global economy where goods, services and products flow freely between nations. Understanding the myriad of complex relationships, causalities, etc is extremely challenging even for the finest minds. Most people don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.

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