Ben,
The truncated (economics 101) piece is interesting but changes nothing. If anything it highlights the failure of economics as a ‘science’ (sic).
As for your jibe about sloganeering that is little more than Sergeant Shultz’s
“I see nothing”. Yet the article goes on to admit the flaws.
As I have said many times there is something seriously wrong with a theory of wealth distribution that needs so many victims, artificial (manipulative) practices, and the creation of uncontrolled entities to more efficiently exploit. (i.e. derivatives, the dino 3, multinational corporations who dictate to sovereign nations, avoid responsibility to the people they allegedly serve rather than the other way around.)
This article is an example of black letter academia at it’s most wilfully blind. A bit like papering over the cracks on the ‘Titanic’. Or like Sadam’s ‘Information Minister’ claiming they were in charge while the bombs were dropping in the background.
These aren’t minor kinks that a theory would fix they are fundamental flaws.
A rotting fish by any other name still stinks

I agree with examinator. While they might contain some merit, and this one certainly does, any arguments proffering a preferred direction out of the current financial meltdown, that fail to mention climate change or peak oil, are fundamentally flawed to begin with. Today's situation is a unique confluence of several factors, each on its own potentially catastrophic, and together posing a situation requiring governments to move far beyond a singular economic focus.

Economists might be scathing of the term 'extreme capitalism', but critics who look at the issues from a broader perspective find it perfectly apt. The current financial free-for-all has collapsed in on itself and has completely run its course. We need bold and innovative thinking. We can learn from the past, from people like Keynes and Roosevelt, but we very much need to strike out and chart a new course.

Leaving the vital decisions that urgently need to be made entirely to economists and to economic analysis is the last thing we should be doing. Saving the planet is critical and if done properly will in itself help forge a new and more stable economic environment.

I Must congratulate Ben on his summary, and I must thank the "On line" people for publishing such a document.

As the US slips into the recession hole and drags us all in it is proper to understand just what were the causes and in so doing hope that a wider group of thinkers would appreciate the alternative directions available to us all to maintain economic certainty and the capacity to provide reasonable standard of life to our peoples.

The repeated slogan that the great depression was caused by excessive protection is it appears almost certainly a successful revisionist slogan which has become axiomatic to the media and to some who would call themselves commentators and economists...go read the history, triggered by the inability of Germany to meet its reparations after ww1, and with extraordinary speculation driving prices ever higher, we were bound for a fall.

And can you believe the stupid loan arrangements some US lenders got into. For Alan Greenspan to so humbly say he got it wrong is just a little similar to JMK teaching the classical system only in the face of its failure deciding the thing does not work...it does not do what its is supposed to in the real world. Theory versus reality is a great teacher. In fact to know when you are wrong is an important human characteristic, and makes us all the better as we progress through time.

My real world is production costs not being met by sale prices achieved and to me that says, that Say's Law of supply and demand is a crock and all those who believe that the meeting of supply and demand will equal "normal Profit" have not existed in the real world of commerce, nor have ever had to deal with its failing. Intellectual crackpots say I, both sides of government, most universities, the NFF.

Forward to a better understanding!