You would have to be specific about the information you are trying to glean.Originally posted by smokedog
If you the analysis of economist with Phds are pointless, which I'm sure they would disagree. What would you call the opinions and analysis generated by individuals who don't have an education in economics? Like the ones were seeing on this forum?
To me, I just want an honest answer. I don't care if it's from the CBC or Trump
One of the limiting factors for modern "economics" as a class of academia is that unlike "real" scientists, economists tend to not want to recognize the limitations of their knowledge. Physicists relish in the acknowledgement of what they don't know. They have a much firmer grasp on epistemology. So if you are dealing with a field of study which has a demonstrably poor record for understanding the limitations of what they know - indeed the limitations of what they CAN know - then why would you have much confidence in anyone who claims to have some paper degree on the subject.
So when an economist says that "the budget is good", what they aren't telling you is that they don't really know. It's just a guess, and probably no more valid than yours. It may even be less, because you don't have a false sense of knowledge on a subject.
The truth is that we don't know what this shit budget will do to the Alberta economy. Just like we don't really know what human caused climate change will do to the world. But sometimes with these things, you don't really want to find out.