I Quit

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I have to stop arguing with this guy Alex on the Mises blog, before I take a hostage. Now let's be clear everyone, I am not upset because he is challenging my theory that recessions should lead to higher price inflation (other things equal). Rather, I am going crazy because he doesn't see why CPI growth spiking during a recession should be evidence in my favor. Rather, he thinks it should count against me, because it shows that inflation rates were rising going into the recession, and then fell after the recession.

I pointed out that his argument would also show that summer has a cooling effect, but he dealt with that observation by explaining how the sun and the angle of the earth's axis cause seasonal changes.

If someone can mediate our dispute, I would appreciate it. In his mind I am crazy. And if I continue arguing I soon will be.

Comments

  1. Anonymous12:47 PM

    There is no way to argue with crazy people. For the same reason, there is no way to argue with anyone who claims to be from the "Austrian" school.

    In my experience, people read an entire Mises book covering a thousand "praxeological" issues, and all they come away with is that private property rights are more important than municipal needs. Then they beat you over the head with it.

    Having a debate on a Mises blog is like writing your opinions in the margins of an old economics textbook, and then using the rest of the book for toilet paper.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob Murphy5:01 PM

    Having a debate on a Mises blog is like writing your opinions in the margins of an old economics textbook, and then using the rest of the book for toilet paper.

    So when you're done, the book is all hollowed out in the interior, like a prisoner might do to hide a weapon?

    ReplyDelete
  3. gcallah8:33 AM

    Bob, summer does have a cooling effect! It's spring and winter, when the days are getting longer, that have a warming effect, and summer and autumn, when the days are getting shorter, that have a cooling effect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bob Murphy11:20 AM

    Gene,

    I can't tell if you're being a wiseguy or not. If the conventional wisdom were that temperatures tend to go down during summer, and metereologists were polled, "Do you think we're entering summer? Do you think temperatures will go down?" then I could write an article saying, "Other things equal, I think temperatures are higher during summer. In fact, look at this graph of average seasonal temperatures. You'll see that temperatures always spike during summer."

    Then this guy Alex could point to the chart and say, "No, temperatures are always rising going into summer, and then summer knocks them back down. The conventional wisdom is right. If we're entering summer, we should expect falling temperatures any day now."

    ReplyDelete
  5. gcallah11:01 AM

    What you're saying is that temperatures are high during summer. What Alex is saying is that is CAUSED by winter and spring, and that the EFFECT of summer will be to lower them. It's just that there is a lag -- the effect of winter and spring doesn't peak until late July. Look at it this way -- I may have a car accident where I hit my peak speed just after I go off the road. But that doesn't mean going off the road caused my top speed -- that was caused by pressing the gas earlier. Going off the road is going to cause me to slow down, even the period in which I'm off the road may include my top speed.

    ReplyDelete

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