Whenever a politician or leader of big business gets on TV and tries to make a point, they invariably quote "economists".  It doesn't matter if they are on the left, right, or center - they always have some economist or another in their pocket to trot-out as undeniable proof that their point of view is right.

Well, I have a revelation for you: Economics today is what alchemy was in the Dark Ages, namely, total nonsense.  It is not a science and it is not able to predict anything with any level of certainty.  Literally everything coming out of the mouth of economists is just a guess disguised as wisdom.  The shortest list in the world, is the one of accurate predictions by economists.  It is shorter than the list of successes by psychics.

I challenge anyone reading this blog to find a compelling study of economic forecasting that proves economist forecasts are more accurate than throwing darts at a board made up of various scenarios.  It doesn't exist - so don't waste your time looking.  Economics is an interesting study of past economic conditions and nothing more.  It is no more predictive that reading the grounds at the bottom of your morning cup of coffee.

So why do politicians and businesses hire economists to make their predictions anyway?  I mean, isn't it obvious that they are always wrong?  Yes, it is, but our leaders have to hang their hats on something and just telling the truth which would be, "I am just guessing how this will go" is abhorrent to the political class.  Hence, they love economists.

Margaret Thatcher famously said that one of the great keys to her success was never listening to economists.  Ronald Reagan famously fired his economist and budget director David Stockman when Stockman predicted that Reagan's tax cuts would lead to economic disaster.  Reagan replied that he didn't worry about deficits and they were big enough to take care of themselves.  That meant by cutting taxes, economic activity in a free market would grow fast enough to actually create more cash, regardless of lowering the tax rates.  He was right, of course, and the budget balanced by the 1990’s as a result.  Reagan, the supposed dumb actor, was right, and as usual, the economists were wrong.

So, the next time you hear the president try and support his argument for higher taxes and regulation of the economy being a good things because "economists agree" you can recognize it for what it is.  Nonsense.