David Starkey - Mervyn King Has No Idea What He's Doing

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9409334/The-Churchills-Channel-4-David-Starkey-on-what-Winston-Churchill-learned-from-his-ancestor..html

The problem, he says, is that our politicians lack the historical perspective to assess the situation and then act accordingly.

“Arguably since the Twenties, but certainly since the Second World War, we’ve tended to try to understand the world through the so-called social sciences. It seems to me, for example, that the 2008 crash was the moment at which we realised that we don’t actually understand economics any more than a bean counter. Mervyn [King] was my colleague at LSE and he’s a deeply nice man. He’s one of the world’s top two or three academic economists. And he has no idea what he’s doing.”

It isn’t just King, or economists in general, that Starkey feels have failed. “It seems to me the same is true with the management of our social policy, the health service… infinite academic resources have been devoted to the so-called social sciences. It’s obvious we have no understanding of how they work at all. I think the so-called social sciences frankly are mumbo jumbo. If you want to begin to understand the strangeness, the patterns – in so far as there are patterns – of human behaviour then there’s only one way of doing it. That’s by looking at what human beings have done before. And if you do it systematically it’s called history.”

He's promoting his show and obviously has a bias towards history, but he certainly knows how to twist the knife.

Although most on here already know Mystic Merv has no idea what he's doing and none of it is his fault.

[Gone baby gone]

The big difference between Economics and the other social sciences is that Economics masquerades as a "hard science".

Equations and algorithms are put forward that are supposed to be able to predict patterns of behaviour. They sometimes do, but only when things are normal - they fail to deal with the outliers, which are unfortunately, precisely the things we're interested in.

There is a school of Psychology called "behaviorism" that was all the rage in the 60s... but even the world of Psychology moved on from it as a complete solution for explaining human behaviour. Most branches of Economics still have't moved on from this.

[Guest unfunded_liability]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9409334/The-Churchills-Channel-4-David-Starkey-on-what-Winston-Churchill-learned-from-his-ancestor..html

He's promoting his show and obviously has a bias towards history, but he certainly knows how to twist the knife.

Although most on here already know Mystic Merv has no idea what he's doing and none of it is his fault.

Merv and his mates Ben and Mario know they're playing kick-the-can-down-the-road. They also know that 99.9% of the rest of us don't know what they're doing.

[Frank Hovis]

Hasn't Starkey broken the Official Secrets Act there?

Or maybe it's even treason - providing information of use to a enemy foreign power.

[singlemalt]

I'd actually agree with Starkey. Humans don't change. We're exactly the same as our forebears millenia ago. We have the same greedy tendancies, make the same mistakes.

[tinker]

I like David Starkey, always good value in the media; I like that he is not in the least PC or repressed by it.

As for economics and the Merve, I recall having created the biggest, mother of credit bubbles, they never saw it [the crash] coming. They have no credibility and are part of the problem.

Sometimes with these people I'm torn between believing 'they don't know what they are doing' (incompetent) or 'they do' and are working to a plan (evil).

Edited July 19, 2012 by tinker

[porca misèria]

I like David Starkey, always good value in the media; I like that he is not in the least PC or repressed by it.

Heard him on the beginning of Any Questions recently. In response to some loaded question about troops and olympics, he went off on a brilliant rant: huge and fully-deserved Bah Humbug to the olympics, plus a mighty "shame on all the politicians" over all those wars. Value indeed!

[wonderpup]

The big difference between Economics and the other social sciences is that Economics masquerades as a "hard science".

I'm sure they would wear white coats to work if they thought they could get away with it.

I would like Starkey to comment on the degree to which the academic world has been compromised by money- how objective can you be when the people who invite you to speak or to testify are paying you a shed load of cash to hear what you have to say?

[long time lurking]

I like David Starkey, always good value in the media; I like that he is not in the least PC or repressed by it.

As for economics and the Merve, I recall having created the biggest, mother of credit bubbles, they never saw it [the crash] coming. They have no credibility and are part of the problem.

Sometimes with these people I'm torn between believing 'they don't know what they are doing' (incompetent) or 'they do' and are working to a plan (evil).

I know were your coming from on that one but I think it must be the later as they are very well educated, for them not to have seen it coming they must have been delusional or in denial

[thecrashingisles]

I know were your coming from on that one but I think it must be the later as they are very well educated, for them not to have seen it coming they must have been delusional or in denial

It takes a lot of education to reach extreme levels of intellectual delusion.

[@contradevian]

Heard him on the beginning of Any Questions recently. In response to some loaded question about troops and olympics, he went off on a brilliant rant: huge and fully-deserved Bah Humbug to the olympics, plus a mighty "shame on all the politicians" over all those wars. Value indeed!

Yes that was a classic rant. And he's not afraid to attack the audience either. Should be on QT at least once a month IMO.

[Trampa501]

I fear Mervyn King knows exactly what he's doing.

We could have been clear of much of this mess by now, if things had been allowed to run their normal course in 07/08. Yes the impact would have been harder and the crappy banks would have gone under without a trace. But by now we'd be getting a balanced economy back.

Instead he's gone for the stagnant economy over 10 years approach. It's allowed his fellow householders to extract themselves (if they wanted) from the bubble, but at great cost to the rest of us. It's going to take a long long time before uk ltd ever recovers.

[Tired of Waiting]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9409334/The-Churchills-Channel-4-David-Starkey-on-what-Winston-Churchill-learned-from-his-ancestor..html

He's promoting his show and obviously has a bias towards history, but he certainly knows how to twist the knife.

Although most on here already know Mystic Merv has no idea what he's doing and none of it is his fault.

Gordon Brown was a historian.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

I fear Mervyn King knows exactly what he's doing.

We could have been clear of much of this mess by now, if things had been allowed to run their normal course in 07/08. Yes the impact would have been harder and the crappy banks would have gone under without a trace. But by now we'd be getting a balanced economy back.

Instead he's gone for the stagnant economy over 10 years approach. It's allowed his fellow householders to extract themselves (if they wanted) from the bubble, but at great cost to the rest of us. It's going to take a long long time before uk ltd ever recovers.

things havent been allowed to run their normal course since the 50s/60s, hardly makes sense blaming King for carrying on the tradition of intervention any more than its worth blaming Eddie before him or whoever takes on the mantle after him, the next governor will continue the course as will the next after him and the next, under one of them things will blow up beyond redemption and King will be forgotten like everyone before him and the entire focus will be on whoever it blows up under (ie when wealth and monetary tokens recalibrate )

Edited July 19, 2012 by Tamara De Lempicka

[erranta]

Hasn't Starkey broken the Official Secrets Act there?

Or maybe it's even treason - providing information of use to a enemy foreign power.

Who owns THE PRIVATE BANK - B.O.E.?

- a 'hidden' enemy foreign power like Rothschilds?

[Sledgehead]

... for them not to have seen it [the bubble] coming they must have been delusional or in denial

... or just plain absent minded :

"I did not address my mind to it"

Paul Tucker, former head of markets for the BoE, now Deputy Governor and frontrunner for Governor, speaking about a communication from the world's largest central bank, the Federal Reserve, that refered to the "deliberate misreporting of libor", an interest rate upon which some $500bn depend

[evetsm]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9409334/The-Churchills-Channel-4-David-Starkey-on-what-Winston-Churchill-learned-from-his-ancestor..html

He's promoting his show and obviously has a bias towards history, but he certainly knows how to twist the knife.

Although most on here already know Mystic Merv has no idea what he's doing and none of it is his fault.

He should be an Austrian economist. Nobody can plan an economy(except the market)

[okaycuckoo]

I fear Mervyn King knows exactly what he's doing.

We could have been clear of much of this mess by now, if things had been allowed to run their normal course in 07/08. Yes the impact would have been harder and the crappy banks would have gone under without a trace. But by now we'd be getting a balanced economy back.

Instead he's gone for the stagnant economy over 10 years approach. It's allowed his fellow householders to extract themselves (if they wanted) from the bubble, but at great cost to the rest of us. It's going to take a long long time before uk ltd ever recovers.

I would have agreed with that a couple of years ago, but reading stuff from posters like scepticus and red knight keeps making me rethink.

At this stage I'm in gloomy mode: it doesn't matter what they do, finance is in terminal decline and free trade will go the same way.

[Bloo Loo]

I know were your coming from on that one but I think it must be the later as they are very well educated, for them not to have seen it coming they must have been delusional or in denial

they didnt see it coming because they dont exist in the real world.

They measured house prices by looking at loans and their affordability, not the price of the asset on which the loans were secured...they assumed that if the loans were affordable (low rates) compared to wages, then the asset price was not an issue....that is, right up to the moment when banks needed to cash in their bad loans....then...and only then, did they see a problem...and the problem was not the bad debts, it was the liquidity that was being lost....

hence the answer is QE....replace the liquidity, get lending again.

It makes sense if you are a total idiot who doesnt live on a normal wage doing a normal job.

[bonse]

Heard him on the beginning of Any Questions recently. In response to some loaded question about troops and olympics, he went off on a brilliant rant: huge and fully-deserved Bah Humbug to the olympics, plus a mighty "shame on all the politicians" over all those wars. Value indeed!

no wars no historians

[billybong]

King saying to the TSC that the first he knew about Barclay's Libor manipulation was just 2 weeks ago was enough, far more than enough.

The Troughers Select Committee seemed to be taken in but for sure he knows (or ought to have known) and is Starkey just offering him an excuse - an excuse just before King leaves the position as governor.

Unless it's another case of some form of alzheimers or something similar.

It's not impossible at his age but why should the UK's future have to continually rely on people apparently suffering from that condition running things.

Mervyn [King] was my colleague at LSE and he’s a deeply nice man. He’s one of the world’s top two or three academic economists. And he has no idea what he’s doing.”

It's just a shame Starkey didn't say all that sort of stuff years ago rather than just before King's about to go - but no doubt he has his reasons.

Edited July 20, 2012 by billybong