In my latest National Post column I ponder NDP MP Niki Ashton's contribution to the "revolt of the elites" against the elites on behalf of the elites.
"When good economists die, they come back as physicists. When bad economists die, they come back as sociologists. It is an old joke, but class envy is no stranger to academics: Everyone wants to go up-market in the rigour wars." Paul Kedrosky in National Post May 5, 2001
"I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out." Arthur Hays Sulzberger
In my latest National Post column I satirize people's ongoing faith in government's compassionate efficiency despite all their experience with its actual performance.
"A small mind is obstinate. A great mind can lead and be led." Alexander Cannon (incidentally Cannon seems to have been a quack and a thoroughly bad character, but as C.S. Lewis has an unattractive character observe wisely in The Horse and His Boy, about a sensible comment from someone he despised, "a costly jewel retains its value even if hidden in a dung-hill")
"Don’t be afraid to speak up. Remember, whatever you say about the subject and however fallacious it might be, the same thing has already been said by some eminent economist." Ludwig von Mises in a seminar at New York University, as recalled by Murray Rothbard in "The Essential von Mises"
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." Albert Einstein