O'Reilly's economic illiteracy
I'm glad I'm not the only one who spotted O'Reilly's recent public demonstration of his complete lack of economic literacy. My observations were here, where I said
O'Reilly's bio says that he has a degree in history from Marist College, a master's in broadcast journalism from Boston University, and a master's in public administration from Harvard. Apparently, none of those included a class in microeconomics. Surprisingly, the MPA didn't include a class in the operation of the energy markets or regulators. And finally, apparently nobody ever suggested to him that if your research produces an answer different from your theory, then perhaps the problem is with your theory. That would explain a lot about the quality of journalism. If a smart guy with 2 master's degrees can't get it right, how can we expect the other idiots to get it right?
I'm always amused by the back and forth between Bill's critics, who can't seem to agree whether he is a left-winger or conservative. They incorrectly use the term liberal, though I agree that lots of people have been misusing that word for the last hundred years or so. Bill is the oposite of a true liberal, one who believes in liberty. Bill is a populist. When he says he's "looking out for the folks", he means it literally. Sometimes that takes him slightly to the right, sometimes slightly to the left. That confuses lots of people who grew up believing that the political spectrum is one-dimensional, where everything is either left or right. Thus, the "either you're with us or against us" mentality of the left- and right-wing partisans.
I'm the opposite of Bill. I'm a classical liberal. Since that confuses people who now believe that liberal means "someone who believes in government intrusion in every aspect of life", we have resorted to using the term "libertarian". We think adults should be treated as adults who can look out for themselves.
Now, if only we could teach Bill that the correct term is "capitalist", not "capitalistic". Heck, why does he stop there? Couldn't he say that this is a "capitalisticasciousnessy" society? And then he could demand to know who it is that sets the price on all of the other goods we consume.
Incidentally, I still like listening to him because he's entertaining. But I do cut his mic when I'm tired of listening to his inane-yet-high-volume rants. If I want to listen to an idiot yelling nonsense at the top of his lungs, I'll listen to Savage or Air America.
Lately, Bill O'Reilly has been demonstrating how poorly he understands not only the marginal concept, but how many bad economic cliches he can make when bloveating in full populist mode. Last week, he was telling us that they are obviously price fixing because oil only costs $4.50 for the Saudis to pump. That's the low cost oil, but we can't have all of it at that price. Last night, he advocated the "don't pump on Sunday" meme, exploded here. He didn't see how the hurricane in Louisiana has an effect on prices elsewhere, a problem exploded here. He seems to think that oil is different than any other commodity because, "I have to (heat my house, drive my car, etc.)." Have to. Apparently, neither O'Reilly nor the people he is looking out for own sweaters, have the ability to add insulation to their houses, couldn't live closer to work, can't carpool, can't buy smaller vehicles, can't buy smaller houses, couldn't prepay their gas last year, etc.Kyle Markley does a great job of tracking down a transcript of the TV show and blowing it apart, line by line, on his Cap'n Arbyte blog. He quotes (with analysis added) the following unbelievable lines:
Getting to the bottom of high fuel prices. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. It's not easy. Last night we had an extensive discussion about the pricing of gasoline and the huge profits American oil companies are making. One thing struck me: after all the experts we've talked with, after all the research we've done, we still can't find out who exactly sets the price of a gallon of gasoline. Which human being in America does that?Kyle does miss one point, though: milk prices are set by a complicated formula and administered by the USDA.
[...]
Every time I ask who sets the price I get "the market", "the Merc", "OPEC", and on and on. Well it's all B.S. Somebody tells your local gas station owner exactly what to charge. Somebody does that.
O'Reilly's bio says that he has a degree in history from Marist College, a master's in broadcast journalism from Boston University, and a master's in public administration from Harvard. Apparently, none of those included a class in microeconomics. Surprisingly, the MPA didn't include a class in the operation of the energy markets or regulators. And finally, apparently nobody ever suggested to him that if your research produces an answer different from your theory, then perhaps the problem is with your theory. That would explain a lot about the quality of journalism. If a smart guy with 2 master's degrees can't get it right, how can we expect the other idiots to get it right?
I'm always amused by the back and forth between Bill's critics, who can't seem to agree whether he is a left-winger or conservative. They incorrectly use the term liberal, though I agree that lots of people have been misusing that word for the last hundred years or so. Bill is the oposite of a true liberal, one who believes in liberty. Bill is a populist. When he says he's "looking out for the folks", he means it literally. Sometimes that takes him slightly to the right, sometimes slightly to the left. That confuses lots of people who grew up believing that the political spectrum is one-dimensional, where everything is either left or right. Thus, the "either you're with us or against us" mentality of the left- and right-wing partisans.
I'm the opposite of Bill. I'm a classical liberal. Since that confuses people who now believe that liberal means "someone who believes in government intrusion in every aspect of life", we have resorted to using the term "libertarian". We think adults should be treated as adults who can look out for themselves.
Now, if only we could teach Bill that the correct term is "capitalist", not "capitalistic". Heck, why does he stop there? Couldn't he say that this is a "capitalisticasciousnessy" society? And then he could demand to know who it is that sets the price on all of the other goods we consume.
Incidentally, I still like listening to him because he's entertaining. But I do cut his mic when I'm tired of listening to his inane-yet-high-volume rants. If I want to listen to an idiot yelling nonsense at the top of his lungs, I'll listen to Savage or Air America.
Labels: politics
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