Is economics the new church?

Truly paradigm-shifting ideas often come from the margins and sometimes arrive completely accidently.  And it almost always takes a long time for the value of new theories and discoveries to be evident.  Challenging conventional wisdom is not something society encourages.

The how-to-solve-it announcement yesterday gathered up all the discourse to appease conventional wisdom as it was speaking to Society.  The complexities of politics demand that. 

The announcement is better looked at in philosophical terms.  It was a humanist kind of offering rather than an economic one.  It offered a religion rather than a cure.  The masquerade of a cure revealed itself through the use of medical terminology, such as "stress test" for financial institutions.  It offered an illusion of power to us by the promise of transparency which will be available on the comically unfinished website financialstability.gov.

Does that mean it was bad?  Of course not.  It just did not speak in the kind of detail everyone had hoped for.  And, if the plan had proposed something truly radical and innovative, what would happen then?

What are we asking for?  Is economics the new church?  If so, yesterdays sermon was a from the American Universalist Individualist New Capitalist sect.  Here are my notes:

1. They will look at these things we call financial institutions in great detail.  Like a doctor rather than a scientist.

2. There will be a Thing designed.

3. The gentle Talf will roam the fields, eating and growing.

4. You the individual will have somewhere to live.

5. They will talk to the rest of the world.

6. The plan will adapt and change.

The economic paradigm has already shifted and the prescriptions outlined above keep that in mind.  In other words, vagueness is the new black.  Where we will end up is a complete mystery.  In that regard, it is not a church.

Whole, like a snake...

Missmarketcrash had another technicolor dream last night.  She was at the beach and there was snow on the sand dunes.  Cobbled together shacks clustered on the edge of a cliff and many of Missmc's friends were there as well as an assortment of strangers.  We were all bitterly cold.  A large group decided to sit on the seaside in front of the cafe where the sun was and folding chairs were carried along a narrow bumpy cliffside path.  Missmc unfolded her chair and looked down.  It was a long drop down and a terrifying place to sit.  Panic.  Not a good spot.  Everyone carried the chairs back around to the bayside and a seating map was drawn up. Meanwhile, Mrmc was inside the cafe working.  A good friend came in, dressed in a most comical crustacean costume with a wry look on her face.  She ordered a cup of coffee to go.  Missmc asked if she could join her, and crustacean-friend said no, as she thought Missmc had asked her out of pity rather than interest. Just then, out the windowless windowframe there was a commotion.  A beige pig was eating a muddy-colored pig whole, like a snake.  The pig with the pig inside stumbled into the cafe, its mouth open to partially reveal the snout of the muddy pig.  The muddy pig mouth started screaming "Get me out of here, get me out of here".  Everyone stared.  No one had any idea how to remove the muddy pig without slaying the beige pig.  And no one wanted to touch either. Everyone just wanted the pig-pig to go away but dreaded the suffering they would endure as two pigs in one. The muddy pig would be able to eat and grow and the insides of the beige pig would be not only squashed, but, malnourished.  It was so gruesome and there were no solutions at hand. 

Missmarketcrash woke up.  Who needs fiction with dreams like this?  This morning's news mumbled that the U.S. treasury has delayed its much anticipated bank bailout plan announcement until Tuesday.  Market futures are plummeting in response.  I do hope my dreams can find the comedic side of it all this week - another night of pig-pig fills me with dread.  The comedic well-armored crustacean had better have a coffee with me tonight.