Re: [tlug] RMS is at it again

["Gernot Hassenpflug" <aikishugyo@example.com>]

On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 12:59 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull
<stephen@example.com> wrote:
> Gernot Hassenpflug writes:
>
>  > I am getting more interested in economics at long last, and noticed
>  > one interesting quote about the difference between politics and
>  > economics: politics focusses on the goals and assumed results, while
>  > economics (and any decent science) focusses on mechanisms, effects and
>  > that sort of thing.
>
> This is unfair to both political science, which focuses on mechanisms
> and effects as much as economics does, and to practical politicians,
> who are analogous to engineers and project management, not scientists.

I think the reason for the quote was that the author is making a
specific point about critical differences rather than similarities. He
also points out that voters spend far less time on political decisions
(where their decision has a small impact on many people) compared to
economic decisions (which have a large impact on them personally), and
that the former are usually package deals while the latter are
incremental and customizable.

> Propaganda, on the other hand, does indeed focus on goals and assume
> that if the speaker gets his way it will comes to pass as he claims.
> However, I don't think any successful politician relies exclusively on
> propaganda.

No doubt. Successful politicians use whatever they can get :-) I also
applaud the fact that one can get honest men in any field if one looks
hard enough.