I'm not in the habit of writing retrospectives and expectations at the end of the calendar year, but the 2020s have necessitated paying attention to both hindsight and foresight. As I said in response to David Graeber's untimely death in 2020, "Now we know why we speak of 20:20 vision, and 20:20 hindsight. We thought it was an ophthalmologist's crazy numbering system. In fact, it was a warning from a time traveller."
“Hold my beer decade” indeed! I share your trepidation of how climate and geopolitics/ finance is going to unfold going forward- the release of frozen ‘till now undersea and permafrost methane deposits will wreak havoc on atmospheric CO2 levels. I shudder to think of the “brilliant” geoengineering proposals that are sure to be forthcoming - I’m afraid we’re past “getting rid of useless eaters” as a solution.
Doom and gloom aside, congratulations on your analytical achievements and may success attend your efforts going forward! It blows my mind that (especially irrational) economic behavior can be analyzed statistically to such a degree. I was cursed with a high IQ (98+ percentile) but stopped my studies in maths at pre-calculus- sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll won the day but I never tired of looking into what makes things tick. So while I can’t follow the nuts and bolts of your calculations, I can somewhat perceive the reductions to reach your conclusions. Q.E.D. and how! I would be honored to hold your beer while you tell the know-it-alls what’s what. Go well, and happy New Year!
I am one of the quiet students on Steve's brilliant Lecture series; I've quietly avoided the call for student testimonies; the paradox and what I did and didn't understand of economics kept getting in the way, so testimony has taken time.
Saying that, that is one inspirational Toast for tonight @ProfSteveKeen...
"Come Sunday, I'll be raising a glass to toast Fisher, and Cantillon, Turgot, Quesnay, Marx, Schumpeter, Keynes, Goodwin, Minsky, and the many others who fought—unsuccessfully but valiantly—to drive fantasy out of economics, whose ideas moulded my approach to economics, and to whom, to some degree, I have repaid my intellectual debts." What's more I now understand its context and motivation.
Now what do I know of all of this?
Being a student is suffice. Investing a few hours of my time every week on Steve's brilliant 2023 Lecture series has helped me understand the real value and meaning of that toast... and of course the trajectory of where he and his gathering technical students are now set.
Last century, whilst attempting to respond to the bête noir of Local Economic Development Control (Value for Money), I had an enlightening brush with ''New Economics'. I searched for nigh on 30 years for some profound, overarching advance on this movement. Now, primed by enigmatic, years on an introduction to questions on Money with 'Positive Money', I found the work and effort of the pre-eminent and very accessible Steve Keen and, here I be.... skipping around the edge of 2023.
Myself, a farm-boy, from a 'pre-machine age' family farm, had I met Cantillon and his Physiocrats earlier, this lame discipline would have begun to make some sense. In later life, as a forever failing environmental activist, I would know, for example, where the simple reasoning from the Laws of Thermodynamics would prove instantly valuable. Rather than merely sense it, I would perhaps have grasped the 'wrote-folly' of the Economists' favourite word 'equilibrium' and, indeed, once tooled-up with Steve's Minsky software (open-source of course), I imagine, even I could explain to that Nobel Prize winner (and my elected representative) exactly where they need to adjust his lethal narrative on the economy.
Professor Keen... thank you for your hard work and focus in 2023; best wishes and "power to your elbow" to you and all your able supporters... my classmates, for 2024.
Thanks Bill. It's been a pleasure for me too, since it's given me a community to interact with that is far more dynamic than what is possible on Patreon and Substack.
And I'm back at it already, working on the second-last unfinished chapter in my new book.
“Hold my beer decade” indeed! I share your trepidation of how climate and geopolitics/ finance is going to unfold going forward- the release of frozen ‘till now undersea and permafrost methane deposits will wreak havoc on atmospheric CO2 levels. I shudder to think of the “brilliant” geoengineering proposals that are sure to be forthcoming - I’m afraid we’re past “getting rid of useless eaters” as a solution.
Doom and gloom aside, congratulations on your analytical achievements and may success attend your efforts going forward! It blows my mind that (especially irrational) economic behavior can be analyzed statistically to such a degree. I was cursed with a high IQ (98+ percentile) but stopped my studies in maths at pre-calculus- sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll won the day but I never tired of looking into what makes things tick. So while I can’t follow the nuts and bolts of your calculations, I can somewhat perceive the reductions to reach your conclusions. Q.E.D. and how! I would be honored to hold your beer while you tell the know-it-alls what’s what. Go well, and happy New Year!
Thank you Adam. Here’s to surviving 2024.
I am one of the quiet students on Steve's brilliant Lecture series; I've quietly avoided the call for student testimonies; the paradox and what I did and didn't understand of economics kept getting in the way, so testimony has taken time.
Saying that, that is one inspirational Toast for tonight @ProfSteveKeen...
"Come Sunday, I'll be raising a glass to toast Fisher, and Cantillon, Turgot, Quesnay, Marx, Schumpeter, Keynes, Goodwin, Minsky, and the many others who fought—unsuccessfully but valiantly—to drive fantasy out of economics, whose ideas moulded my approach to economics, and to whom, to some degree, I have repaid my intellectual debts." What's more I now understand its context and motivation.
Now what do I know of all of this?
Being a student is suffice. Investing a few hours of my time every week on Steve's brilliant 2023 Lecture series has helped me understand the real value and meaning of that toast... and of course the trajectory of where he and his gathering technical students are now set.
Last century, whilst attempting to respond to the bête noir of Local Economic Development Control (Value for Money), I had an enlightening brush with ''New Economics'. I searched for nigh on 30 years for some profound, overarching advance on this movement. Now, primed by enigmatic, years on an introduction to questions on Money with 'Positive Money', I found the work and effort of the pre-eminent and very accessible Steve Keen and, here I be.... skipping around the edge of 2023.
Myself, a farm-boy, from a 'pre-machine age' family farm, had I met Cantillon and his Physiocrats earlier, this lame discipline would have begun to make some sense. In later life, as a forever failing environmental activist, I would know, for example, where the simple reasoning from the Laws of Thermodynamics would prove instantly valuable. Rather than merely sense it, I would perhaps have grasped the 'wrote-folly' of the Economists' favourite word 'equilibrium' and, indeed, once tooled-up with Steve's Minsky software (open-source of course), I imagine, even I could explain to that Nobel Prize winner (and my elected representative) exactly where they need to adjust his lethal narrative on the economy.
Professor Keen... thank you for your hard work and focus in 2023; best wishes and "power to your elbow" to you and all your able supporters... my classmates, for 2024.
That is a beautiful tribute Bill. I am truly touched. Here’s to you and our wonderful community of thinkers in my lecture series.
To have attended your classes of 2023 has been my great pleasure Professor.
Enjoy your year...
just you get on and surf this big wave and I will do my best to be quiet.
Being quiet only means I sense your course is true and on the right tracks...
although maybe not quite fast enough for this old man.
Do you not think that it helps that Orthodoxy chose merely to bury this sapient old paradigm (in the sands of time) and not dismantle it.
Looking forward to helping uncover infrastructure and rolling stock to full service for the future of us all...
as I think our big brief set by Linnaeus had envisaged it.
2024 is that year.
Thanks Bill. It's been a pleasure for me too, since it's given me a community to interact with that is far more dynamic than what is possible on Patreon and Substack.
And I'm back at it already, working on the second-last unfinished chapter in my new book.
See you later this week!