from Mises blog: [Archived comments below]
Tom Woods spoke last night at the UConn School of Business, opposite Tom McInerney, ING Chairman & CEO Insurance Americas (which received $3 billion euros in bailout money from the Dutch government). The topic was “Too Big to Fail?: Perspectives on Government Intervention During Economic Collapse.” Reports from audience members overwhelmingly agree that Woods absolutely wiped the floor with McInerney. Woods, of course, was well prepared and presented a coherent economic case for his position, and was entertaining to boot. McInerney, by contrast, ate up some of his time on personal anecdotes about the school, like a typical Dale Carnegie back-slapping schmoozer, before getting to a dry and boring Powerpoint obviously prepared by some lackey. McInerney reportedly played lip service to the idea that no company should be bailed out–but, of course, “this was a special circumstance.”
The extent to which he was outmatched, though, was revealed in this almost embarrassingly funny episode. McInerney had mentioned that Bernanke was a diligent and knowledgeable student of the Great Depression. So, when it came time for the Q&A, one audience member asked Woods to briefly explain the Austrian view of Great Depression and how it might differ from Bernanke’s view. After Woods did this, McIerney took the stage, and as if he were about to unload a devastating blow against Woods, said to him, “this might seem like a bit of an attack. Don’t take it too personally.” And then…. he began to rant about … the relatively small size of the country of Austria. I kid you not.
Some audience members began to laugh; others cringed, as McInerney dug his hole deeper while under the illusion that he was unleashing a deadly zinger. Woods kept trying to stage whisper that Austria had nothing to do with the school of Austrian economics, but McInerney, undeterred, plowed on. Thus, when Woods took the stage he said, “this might seem like an attack, but don’t take it too personally…” And then Woods commented that we may as well say we shouldn’t listen to Milton Friedman, since the GDP of Chicago is pretty low.
[Mises cross-post]
Archived comments (set 2 below too):
Comments (70)
{ 97 comments }
{ 97 comments… read them below or add one }
October 22, 2009 at 12:07 am
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Dear Lord.
October 22, 2009 at 12:16 am
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The emperor has no clothes…
We need a video asap because this the funniest anecdote I have ever heard.
October 22, 2009 at 12:19 am
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There probably are a number of people in the library’s quiet study room that are not very happy with me after I just laughed at this story.
October 22, 2009 at 12:22 am
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We need a video of this thing.
October 22, 2009 at 12:26 am
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Agree..We need a video ASAP. HA!
October 22, 2009 at 12:49 am
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That’s just ugly. Epic ugly. And yes, someone, video please! I’ve got to see the sarcasm in Tom’s Friedman / Chicago remark.
October 22, 2009 at 12:52 am
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Did he also promise to throw a shrimp onto the barbie? And throw a boomerang? What does he have against Paul Hogan, and Nicole Kidman? and that other Australian, Arnie, the one who rules Kalifornia?
October 22, 2009 at 12:59 am
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I was there. That was exactly how it happened. Tom’s retort was cool and calculated. I was laughing like a hyena in heat when McIerney made the gaff and my wife kept elbowing me in the side–trying to get me to shut-up.
October 22, 2009 at 1:13 am
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This is comedy gold.
I feel bad for McIerney just in hearing this episode.
Please, video. Please.
I smell a YouTube phenomenon.
October 22, 2009 at 1:31 am
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God, I have money with ING.
October 22, 2009 at 2:24 am
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Please tell me there is a video.
October 22, 2009 at 2:46 am
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haha, this may be one of the biggest epic fails in recent memory.
October 22, 2009 at 2:47 am
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Please, please, please, please tell me someone taped it!
I….want to laugh hysterically and throw up at the same time.
October 22, 2009 at 2:56 am
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I am shocked, shocked that Tom McInerney, an econ major from Colgate in ’78 and an MBA from Dartmouth in ’82 that went on to handle $81 billion in assets under Aetna had not heard of the Austrian school of economics, now where sir are my gambling winnings?
October 22, 2009 at 3:09 am
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You Austrians have *nothing* on Rand McNally business cycle theory!
October 22, 2009 at 3:38 am
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Priceless.
October 22, 2009 at 6:00 am
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Wahahaha,
I’m shocked, ooh wait, I’m not…
=)
Tom J. McInerney, member Management Board Insurance, chairman & CEO Insurance Americas
http://www.ing.com/group/showdoc.jsp?docid=379070_EN&docidrc=379084_EN&menopt=cog|exb|ebm&lang=en
October 22, 2009 at 6:36 am
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The relative size of the Austrian school compared to the freshwater and saltwater views (for those who don’t know, economic schools of thought on either coast ie saltwater or chicago school ie freshwater) cannot be ignored. Top universities and their students hardly venture into any of these topics let alone read anything from Mises, Rothbard or Hayek. So it doesn’t surprise me one bit.
October 22, 2009 at 7:00 am
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KP, I am not at all surprised as well. While pursuing my Bachelor’s in Economics, I accidentally stumbled across the Mises Institute’s website and that’s how I was introduced to Austrian economics. Of course, my economics training was overloaded with Keynesianism with a little freshwater thrown in. So yes, no surprise at all.
October 22, 2009 at 7:01 am
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I was there as well and unfortunately there was no video camera that i am aware of, so no video. But the above story is 100% true; one could feel the collective cringe when McInerney was spouting off about Austria. And it wasnt short. He spent a good 5-7minutes in his diatribe, trying to get audience participation by asking “Does anyone know the GDP of france…How about Italy….and austria….” It was very sad because people were snickering and he had no idea it was at him.
October 22, 2009 at 7:22 am
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ROFL. I have a distant acquaintance who is directing a major credit risk department at ING … and I don’t expect him to be aware of Hayek’s teachings at all, of course.
Some of his less important colleagues did listen at parties to the idea that inflation was hell for the economy. All I ever got from him though is a faint bored smile I think and a look saying “let’s talk about something else please”. Well into the crisis (at the time his bank was being bailed out with tax money) he was offering a whole bunch of expensive anniversary jewels in public to his wife. I remember some of us thinking it was quite tasteless. I heard he had been a bit scared he would loose his job in the tumult later though. But now as everyone officially knows, “the crisis is over” and it’s “business as usual”. I’m happy I could get rid of this anecdote here though.
October 22, 2009 at 7:44 am
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im 90% sure toms email address is [email protected] if anyone wants to send him a reading list
October 22, 2009 at 8:07 am
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This is nothing new for me because it happens with me every now and then here in India. Most of my senior professors confuse Austrian economy with the Austrian school of economics whenever I take them for a debate on Austrian school.
Once in a conference one health economics professor from Aberdeen University told me that he has never heard about the AUSTRALIAN (and NOT AUSTRIAN) school of Economics!
The mainstream economics profession has ignored Austrian school to such an extent that many simply don’t know about it.
October 22, 2009 at 8:25 am
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After McInerney gave his answer, the moderator replied with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTFwAxfHgSA
October 22, 2009 at 8:41 am
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The room was L-shaped, so some people would not have been able to see the camera, but there was one, and two of the organizers tell me it was indeed recorded. I am finding out right now about getting a video.
Of course people are right to observe that relatively few people get exposed to Austrian economics. The point here is that I had just finished a 40-minute presentation on the subject.
October 22, 2009 at 8:57 am
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This is not surprising as anyone who is going to succeed in this corporo-fascistic economy – to its highest levels – has to be stripped of any knowledge such as Austrian Economics. It proves just how successful the collectivist, statist mind control has been. THIS is what one should expect to happen – to rise up in the ersatz-private sector one would have to have a mind tuned into the “correct” frequencies and a forty minute treatise on the subject is tuned out as incomprehensible static.
It’s not funny, it’s sad and alarming.
October 22, 2009 at 9:00 am
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John D., how sad but true. “Mr. McInerney, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
October 22, 2009 at 9:31 am
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In my opinion, there’s nothing more entertaining when fools like McInerney hang themselves with their own ignorant words.
October 22, 2009 at 9:35 am
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Tom,
Will this be loaded up onto the Mises channel on youtube?
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Tom,
That means two things: He did not have the intellectual capacity to comprehend your speech, or he just was not listening.
October 22, 2009 at 10:43 am
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I say with a high degree of certainty that the opponents of the Austrian School do not have the slightest familiarity with its basic concepts (although Mr. McInerney may be unusual in having never actually heard of the school even after a 40 minute lecture).
From the various recent attacks on the Austrian School (Yglesias, Krugman, DeLong, Quiggin etc.), it is clear that there isn’t a single critic who understands, for example, Cantillon Effects or the time structure of production. They don’t really reject those concepts. They don’t even get that far. They’ve never bothered to even try to understand what those concepts are if they’ve even heard of them at all. However, I think they understand that a fair and open debate on these topics might be damaging to their religious-like State-as-God worldview.
Which means we will win in the end, right?
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They are going to let me know as soon as the video is ready. I’m told there may be some audio problem, but they’re trying to fix it.
October 22, 2009 at 11:43 am
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Bob,
Perhaps. The Internet may be our ace in the hole. The religious (you are absolutely right that statism is a religion) folks who need to have their wisdom spoon-fed to them are always more numerous than those who are mentally awake and not in love with their own thoughts.
In the past, the way the real thinkers were brought together was institutions of higher learning. Since those are long-corrupted, you don’t see large concentrations of real thought anymore. Until now.
The cool thing about being right is that you can be sincere in spreading your ideas; that is, you don’t have to go into salesperson mode. That, and if someone puts enough genuine thought in your idea, they will see that it is right too. So while we still have a job to do in getting the word out, our job is made easier by the fact that we are right, at least on all the obvious fundamentals.
It would be interesting to see if, while the world goes to hell all around us, there are little intellectual pockets of Austrianism in various parts of the world, unified through the glorious thing that is instantaneous communication. When things start to get dicey for the statists, as is inevitable, we may even be able to get us some territory someday.
October 22, 2009 at 12:28 pm
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Good thing you didn’t mention the School of Salamanca, he might have gone off on a tangent about Don Quixote.
October 22, 2009 at 1:00 pm
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Tyler Cowen has commented on ABCT, and at least he understands it. Incidentally, his criticism was one of the most hilariously ironic articles I have ever seen
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/01/if_i_believed_i.html October 22, 2009 at 1:18 pm
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I think Tom’s point is important here. He just finished a 40 minute presentation on AE, and this guy didn’t get it.
I’ve shared Tom’s talks via articles and YouTube many times with friends, and they get it. And they don’t speak at conferences, or CEO multi-billion dollar firms.
What’s sad is that McInerney thought he was being smart. If he had done an iota of research on Tom (which I would have done prior to appearing with him, this is why CEOs have PAs) then he would have had a clue that AE is not about a country, but a particular method and tradition.
Is it any wonder folks like this stuff their faces at the public trough after mismanaging their companies?
October 22, 2009 at 2:05 pm
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NFL teams should not run the Wildcat offense because wildcats are terrible at football, in fact, they don’t even play it… idiots.
October 22, 2009 at 2:39 pm
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Hi All,
I consider myself lucky to have Tom Woods come visit us in Connecticut for this event. I was so embarressed for Mr. McInerney when this exchange took place that it actually pained me – awkward! It’s also pretty disturbing!
Thanks Tom Woods for your perseverance and hard work. I don’t know how you keep from banging your head against the wall. It was a real pleasure finally meeting you and an honor shaking your hand. October 22, 2009 at 2:50 pm
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The worst thing about this story is that even if someone asks why I was howling with laughter here at work, it would take too long to explain.
BN: that’s a great analogy.
Dixieflatline: I think you give too much credit to the common folks. I agree that’s the way it SHOULD work, but I am often surprised by the vehemence of those denying AE ideas and ideals.
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Michael:
Its not that they deny it but rather they are not familiar with Austrian Economics. Keynes and Friedman and there followers make up a large portion of academic interests. If you want to make a comparison its like comparing a giant like IBM or Microsoft that everyone is familiar with or used; with a small operating system or computer manufacturer out of someone’s garage.
It doesn’t matter if that OS or computer from the garage is superior most people won’t know about it.
October 22, 2009 at 4:06 pm
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Wife: What’s so funny?
Me: Ah, well in a debate about government intervention during economic collapse, –
Wife: Actually, never mind. October 22, 2009 at 4:09 pm
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I don’t feel sorry for the buffoon one bit.
It’s tragic that someone who is obviously thought by many to be a “success” in life and therefore at least somewhat intelligent is actually so stupid and came so unprepared for an important discussion.
We need more of these “tragedies” and we need them publicized as much as possible. Let’s bury these idiots!
October 22, 2009 at 4:30 pm
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LOL. I need to see this video.
October 22, 2009 at 5:19 pm
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Instead of making a fool out of himself like that when he hears someone mention Austrian Economics he should just smile condescendingly, pick on a tiny, inconsequential technical aspect of the presentation, and then veer off into an irrelevant discussion of the savings rate in developing Asian countries.
October 22, 2009 at 5:46 pm
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Thanks, this made my day!
October 22, 2009 at 6:46 pm
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Who cares about Keynesian economics. Kenya is a small country so why should we care what its economists have to say?
October 22, 2009 at 7:13 pm
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This is a perfect example of too big to fail, too dumb to succeed.
October 22, 2009 at 8:14 pm
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@Steve:
[Quote]
We need more of these “tragedies” and we need them publicized as much as possible. Let’s bury these idiots!
[/Quote]I think they’re doing a fine job burying themselves.
October 22, 2009 at 8:51 pm
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Oh man I busted up. I have to add my vote to the pool of people asking for a video of this buffoonery.
October 22, 2009 at 8:52 pm-
He can’t be that ignorant. He’s obviously pulling an Obama by pretending his critics don’t exist or are unworthy of debate. He’s probably playing the game that most people are too stupid to know the truth or find it out for themselves. He knew he had no leg to stand on against Tom. It was probably meant in jest – at least the ING stockholders hope so.
Seriously though, you could not make up something that funny.
October 22, 2009 at 11:40 pm
October 23, 2009 at 12:33 am-
That’s hilarious LOL
Tracy
October 23, 2009 at 1:55 am-
Thanks for this report, Stephan.
And well, said, Tom!
October 23, 2009 at 8:22 am-
Michael Maier, I think DixieFlatline has a good point.
In my experience, many of those formally trained in economics in any way, shape or form, but especially those with credentials from the most highly regarded schools, hang on to their little paradigms like a pit bull with lock jaw.
In contrast, plain ol’ common folks like me, with a healthy case of intellectual curiosity, but with neither preconceived notions nor fancy economics degrees, easily “get it” because AE makes so much logical sense and is easily provable at least a zillion times a day in Real Life. So what if it doesn’t involve complicated mathematical equations and other theoretical BS that makes most people’s eyes glaze over?
The former group simply will not (cannot?) admit that everything they’ve been taught might not be 100% correct. Seems to me, most of them can’t even do even a little critical examination of what they “know to be true”.
Tom Woods explains it all with such clarity, I would think that his words would make someone at least ponder the possibilities. McInerney is a fool.
October 23, 2009 at 2:47 pm-
It’s funny how people here just don’t get it.
October 23, 2009 at 3:13 pm-
GilesS,
Get what?
- October 23, 2009 at 5:26 pm
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People here are missing quite a bit really.
But what’s really telling is how somebody outside of academia makes a mistake to which people here reply “look how stupid and corrupt mainstram academics are!”.
- October 23, 2009 at 6:19 pm
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GilesS,
Give it a rest. Who are you, anyway, that people here should take your opinion seriously?
October 23, 2009 at 7:29 pm-
GilesS strikes me as an arrogant prick.
That it is all.
October 24, 2009 at 2:07 am-
GilesS,
I wonder who is not getting it. Looks like you have failed to comprehend the main point of the article – to highlight how
1. the mainstream is completely ignorant of the Austrian School of Economics. That’s rather sad because the Austrian School of Economics is the only one that gives a coherent and easy to understand explanation for the occurence of Business Cycles. It’s so simple even laymen like me can make sense of it. It’s even more sad that as a result, the only real solution to the crisis is not going to be implemented in the near future.
2. how mainstream education dumbs you down to the extent that even if someone takes 40 minutes to explain something in very simple language, all he can do is to completely fail to understand it and instead pompously spew out a load of rubbish. - October 24, 2009 at 7:51 am
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“1. the mainstream is completely ignorant of the Austrian School of Economics. That’s rather sad because the Austrian School of Economics is the only one that gives a coherent and easy to understand explanation for the occurence of Business Cycles. It’s so simple even laymen like me can make sense of it. It’s even more sad that as a result, the only real solution to the crisis is not going to be implemented in the near future.
2. how mainstream education dumbs you down to the extent that even if someone takes 40 minutes to explain something in very simple language, all he can do is to completely fail to understand it and instead pompously spew out a load of rubbish.”So now every “mainstream economist” who doesn’t understand the ABCT (there’s a lot them) is an idiot? Or at least, they’re “dumbed down”. Perhaps he didn’t understand the argument because before Roger Garrison nobody ever put it in a way that mainstream economists would understand.
The “mainstream” is only ignorant of the Rothbardian branch of Austrian economics, for good reason.
- October 24, 2009 at 8:57 am
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For what it’s worth, a quick Wikipedia check reveals that Chicago has a higher GDP than Austria!
GDP of Chicago: $ 460 Billion
GDP of Austria: $330 Billion 
October 24, 2009 at 9:37 am-
I am a history major and I do not know a whole lot about economics in general, but I am pretty sure that I understand the Austrian School (I have never been confused listening to Dr. Woods, anyway). This had me rolling and I cannot wait to see the video!
October 24, 2009 at 11:32 am-
GilesS, you actually think Man, Economy, and State is pretty unimpressive, huh?
And no, no one was saying people are stupid for not knowing about the Austrian School. The point was that (1) you might expect someone to look into it before a debate, knowing your opponent will be talking about it, and (2) I had just spoken about Austrian economics for 40 MINUTES.
You’re saying it’s super-smart to think Austrian economics involves the country of Austria, event after you’ve listened to a 40-minute presentation on the subject. I’d love to hear you try to debate that one.
October 24, 2009 at 12:31 pm-
Giles,
You are not stupid. Just ignorant. Also foolish for not recognizing your ignorance.
October 24, 2009 at 2:25 pm-
People mix up economy and economics a lot, but only rarely it results in such an entertaining performance.
Another nice thing is to read Tom in action — there’s more of us waiting for GilesS’s answer … - October 24, 2009 at 4:15 pm
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Tom,
Perhaps the guy is an idiot, perhaps he was just not listening. I never disputed this, although I don’t think a single (highly embarassing) mistake such as this is grounds for making such claims.
Now, I don’t know what topic you’ve been reading, but above there’s plenty of comments making statements that just don’t follow from this one guy being an idiot. The idea that “mainstream” academic economics are stupid or dogmatic may also be true (I don’t think it is), but the statements made by the CEO of ING don’t prove this one bit.
(For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed MES).
- October 24, 2009 at 6:47 pm
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GilesS
You thoroughly enjoyed it; but people ignore it for good reason.
Keep digging….
- October 24, 2009 at 8:07 pm
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D,
Exactly, GilesS is full of crap.
- October 25, 2009 at 6:35 am
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“GilesS
You thoroughly enjoyed it; but people ignore it for good reason.
Keep digging….
”
Nobody ignores it, they’ve just never heard of it because nobody in academia reads a 1,500 pages treatise that is what? 50 years old. - October 25, 2009 at 8:05 am
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GilesS,
For what it’s worth, the 1,500 page version of MES is the scholars edition published in 2004 that combines the original texts of MES and Power and Market; the original MES was about 1000 pages, pretty much the same as the 60 year old book Human Action.
So what’s your point? Why don’t you go tell your buddies at the GMU blog that nobody in academia reads Human Action for that reason. What a tool.
March 15, 2010 at 2:28 pm-
@Lord Buzungulus, Bringer of the Purple Light I know it’s fashionable to bash GMU at the Mises Institute. I happen to love the Institute and also recognize that, while they don’t agree on everything, bashing GMU is like bashing people who put mustard instead of ketchup on their hamburger, while everyone else is pouring on sand. It seems like they debate so venomously because they’re the only two that have enough to talk about. That said, I side with the Institute in almost, or in fact maybe all, of the disagreements. I just think the insults are unproductive (unless slung at, say, Harvard!
) And btw, the Austrian Economics class at GMU assigns Human Action, Menger’s Principles, Hazlitt’s “The Failure of the ‘New Economics’,” and Hayek, so check your facts.- March 15, 2010 at 2:54 pm
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Hmmm… for some reason it left off my last line. The class has in the past also assigned MES.
October 25, 2009 at 10:59 am-
The funny thing about this business of difficult books is that the mainstream economists want to have it both ways.
Some of them say “I’ve never studied the Austrian School because the books are so long and difficult”. Others says “The reason all of these ‘amateur’ economists on the internet talk about the Austrians is because their books use verbal reasoning and are easy to understand by the novice.”
I’ve even read some of them trying to argue both at different times. Apparently we read long books on Austrian economics because it’s much easier than understanding mainstream books. They however do not read these long books on Austrian economics because they’re much more difficult than understanding the mainstream paradigm.
- October 25, 2009 at 3:18 pm
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Lord B, I would be willing to be that it’s length and date (as well as the philosophical content) IS the reason that most mainstream economists don’t read HA.
So I don’t really know what point you’re trying to make.
Current, the arguments you cite aren’t contradictory.
October 25, 2009 at 6:40 pm-
Austrian economics has nothing to do with the economy of Austria?! Yeah, and now I suppose you’re going to tell me disdaining French for Freedom fries has nothing to do with hating France and loving Freedom? Only by advancing the unique monstrosity of the French can we hope to advance the cause of freedom! Who cares if “French” fries are the Belgians’ national side dish–to such an extent the French themselves refer to the Belgians as “les frites”?! Freedom is as freedom lovers eat; Austrian is as Austrian lovers enable the Austrians to eat.
- October 25, 2009 at 8:51 pm
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GilesS,
First you write:
“The “mainstream” is only ignorant of the Rothbardian branch of Austrian economics, for good reason.”
which clearly comes off as an insult, that the reason for this ignorance owes to deficiencies in Rothbard’s work.
Then you write:
“(For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed MES).”
After which, when asked to reconcile these two claims, you appeal to the verbosity and age of the works as the reason Rothbard’s work has been neglected. You could have just said that to begin with, but never mind. The point is, you were initially trying to insult Rothbardians, and only backtracked when called out on it. In other words, you were bullshitting.
Like I said, go to the GMU blog and post this:
“The “mainstream” is only ignorant of the Misesian branch of Austrian economics, for good reason.”
Wait to see the reactions you get, THEN claim you only meant that HA was long and old. Bet you won’t get a warm round of applause.
- October 26, 2009 at 1:31 am
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Lord Buzungulus,
” which clearly comes off as an insult, that the reason for this ignorance owes to deficiencies in Rothbard’s work. ”
Actually, it’s more an attempt at smearing and arguing by intimidation. Note how he fails to mention the “good reason”. I am still waiting for him to mention it. It would indeed be interesting to read it if and when he posts it.
- October 26, 2009 at 7:02 am
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Lord B, I’d be more than willing to put that conjecture forward on The Austrian Economists if it came up, I’m not sure if they’d agree but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable claim. Just a few weeks ago Dr Horwitz made a post saying that few people know of Ostrom and Williamson because few academics read works that are more than 10 years old.
Few people in the mainstream have heard of self described Rothbardians such as Hans Hoppe not because Rothbard’s work was deficient (although, in some respects I believe it was) but because a lot of Rothbardians don’t interact with the mainstream. The two claims are easy to reconcile.
- October 26, 2009 at 8:09 am
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I’m not suggesting that you should claim Mises’ lack of impact on the mainstream is due to the length and age his works, I’m suggesting you should say that it is “for good reason,” without qualification as you did here in reference to Rothbard.
Again, you said:
“The “mainstream” is only ignorant of the Rothbardian branch of Austrian economics, for good reason.”
Since you’re now claiming consistency throughout, let me ask: do you think the length and age of a book is “good reason” to be ignorant of it?
- October 26, 2009 at 9:03 am
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Nope, but when academics isolate themselves, that’s a good reason for others to be ignorant of their work.
And, by and large, that’s exactly what the Rothbard bunch have done.
- October 26, 2009 at 9:27 am
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“Nope, but when academics isolate themselves, that’s a good reason for others to be ignorant of their work.”
A fair point, but one you should have made initially.
October 26, 2009 at 9:44 am- October 26, 2009 at 11:43 am
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Also, while some self-imposed academic isolation of the sort GilesS alludes to may exist, there could also be exclusion on the part of mainstream economists. Weren’t Huelsmann’s and Block’s responses to Caplan rejected? Does GilesS think this is simply because those papers were unworthy of publication? Or would he grant that the explicitly praxeological orientation of those papers was utterly foreign to a neoclassical reviewer? I’m not saying there is active collusion against Misesians/Rothbardians, only that the distinctiveness of their method lends itself to easy (and lazy) dismissial on the part of those unfamiliar with that school of thought. But this is not the same thing as isolation.
October 26, 2009 at 2:57 pm-
You people are idiots. McInerney is running a company not engaging in some inane academic exercise in some divorced from reality ivory tower. Do you think Warren Buffet or many of the top CEO’s in the world have the slightest clue what you are talking about or care. These are people with real payrolls, real jobs, real responsibilities not some ninny like Brad engaing in overblown pretentious drivel and smug self-satisfaction. This discourse by you people explains all that is wrong with Academia. Get out in the real world why don’t you and try to achive something.
March 15, 2010 at 4:12 pm-
Hang on, LD, McInerney is a welfare queen who after attending college worked his way up in the world of govt-directed insurance industry, and when his policies failed, he was bailed out. Warren Buffet is the beneficiary of survivorship bias. The reason we people who actually work for a living, self-employed small business follow the Austrian theory, is because it makes sense and is generally borne out when tested.
October 26, 2009 at 4:12 pm-
LD,
You seem to be ignorant of the fact that to achieve something in the real world, one needs a fundamentally sound understanding of the aspect of reality that one is dealing with. An aviator requires knowing the fundamentals of aerodynamics; a banker requires knowing the fundamentals of economics. Tom McInerney is not an achiever because he relies on handouts from the Dutch government instead of his own merits. And this conversation/debate exposes his fundamentally unsound roots. Warren Buffet has the same problem too. He did lose a lot of money during this recession because of it, but he had a principled father who influenced him well enough when he was young and impressionable. Few people realize the strength behind Warren’s success; his father Howard Buffet.
I think you will find these links interesting:
http://mises.org/daily/3745
http://mises.org/daily/3408
http://gsgiles.snappages.com/Blustery%20Day.htm - October 27, 2009 at 7:45 am
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“Nobody ignores it, they’ve just never heard of it because nobody in academia reads a 1,500 pages treatise that is what? 50 years old.”
What are you 10 years old?
Not only did you dodge your mistake, but you actually managed to state that no one ignores it, when your original point was that everyone ignores it.
- October 28, 2009 at 1:21 pm
-
“I think you are confusing lack of compromise with “isolation.” The MIses Institute itself does all it can to broadcast Austrian economics. That the mainstream ignores its scholars is to their shame, not ours.”
But that’s just not true. .
November 1, 2009 at 6:40 pm-
Any updates on a video? This has to be priceless.
November 4, 2009 at 10:14 pm-
bump
November 10, 2009 at 1:35 pm-
yes indeed, the video has to be amazing.
November 10, 2009 at 3:13 pm-
Yeah, I’m wondering about the video?
November 25, 2009 at 6:58 am-
Video! Video! Video!
We were told one would be forthcoming. Don’t leave us hanging like that!
March 15, 2010 at 1:42 pm-
This exchange reminds me of the deer in the headlights answer that McCain gave to Ron Paul during the debates when asked about the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. It was hard to discern whether or not he was completely ignorant of the existence of such a group, or bewildered that he should need to answer for it on a live televised debate. Anyway, it also sailed over the heads of the masses.
March 16, 2010 at 7:53 am-
Yes, indeed, this MUST be documented.
Where is the video/audio?
Not _just_ because I want to see the guy make a fool of himself. No, really that’s not it.
What I want to see is what he tried to say, and how, to disprove what Woods had presented.
Robert Brager
Dear Lord.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:07 AM
Pierre
The emperor has no clothes…
We need a video asap because this the funniest anecdote I have ever heard.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:16 AM
PMix
There probably are a number of people in the library’s quiet study room that are not very happy with me after I just laughed at this story.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:19 AM
mhamlin
We need a video of this thing.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:22 AM
Anthony J
Agree..We need a video ASAP. HA!
Published: October 22, 2009 12:26 AM
EotS
That’s just ugly. Epic ugly. And yes, someone, video please! I’ve got to see the sarcasm in Tom’s Friedman / Chicago remark.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:49 AM
Nuke Gray
Did he also promise to throw a shrimp onto the barbie? And throw a boomerang? What does he have against Paul Hogan, and Nicole Kidman? and that other Australian, Arnie, the one who rules Kalifornia?
Published: October 22, 2009 12:52 AM
Joel Pettit
I was there. That was exactly how it happened. Tom’s retort was cool and calculated. I was laughing like a hyena in heat when McIerney made the gaff and my wife kept elbowing me in the side–trying to get me to shut-up.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:59 AM
iamse7en
This is comedy gold.
I feel bad for McIerney just in hearing this episode.
Please, video. Please.
I smell a YouTube phenomenon.
Published: October 22, 2009 1:13 AM
Niko
God, I have money with ING.
Published: October 22, 2009 1:31 AM
Adam Frost
Please tell me there is a video.
Published: October 22, 2009 2:24 AM
Zach Bibeault
haha, this may be one of the biggest epic fails in recent memory.
Published: October 22, 2009 2:46 AM
Paul
Please, please, please, please tell me someone taped it!
I….want to laugh hysterically and throw up at the same time.
Published: October 22, 2009 2:47 AM
James
I am shocked, shocked that Tom McInerney, an econ major from Colgate in ’78 and an MBA from Dartmouth in ’82 that went on to handle $81 billion in assets under Aetna had not heard of the Austrian school of economics, now where sir are my gambling winnings?
Published: October 22, 2009 2:56 AM
Luke M
You Austrians have *nothing* on Rand McNally business cycle theory!
Published: October 22, 2009 3:09 AM
Rusty_Shackleford
Priceless.
Published: October 22, 2009 3:38 AM
Daniel
Wahahaha,
I’m shocked, ooh wait, I’m not…
=)
Tom J. McInerney, member Management Board Insurance, chairman & CEO Insurance Americas
http://www.ing.com/group/showdoc.jsp?docid=379070_EN&docidrc=379084_EN&menopt=cog|exb|ebm&lang=en
Published: October 22, 2009 6:00 AM
KP
The relative size of the Austrian school compared to the freshwater and saltwater views (for those who don’t know, economic schools of thought on either coast ie saltwater or chicago school ie freshwater) cannot be ignored. Top universities and their students hardly venture into any of these topics let alone read anything from Mises, Rothbard or Hayek. So it doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Published: October 22, 2009 6:36 AM
Richie
KP, I am not at all surprised as well. While pursuing my Bachelor’s in Economics, I accidentally stumbled across the Mises Institute’s website and that’s how I was introduced to Austrian economics. Of course, my economics training was overloaded with Keynesianism with a little freshwater thrown in. So yes, no surprise at all.
Published: October 22, 2009 7:00 AM
Eq
I was there as well and unfortunately there was no video camera that i am aware of, so no video. But the above story is 100% true; one could feel the collective cringe when McInerney was spouting off about Austria. And it wasnt short. He spent a good 5-7minutes in his diatribe, trying to get audience participation by asking “Does anyone know the GDP of france…How about Italy….and austria….” It was very sad because people were snickering and he had no idea it was at him.
Published: October 22, 2009 7:01 AM
Artisan
ROFL. I have a distant acquaintance who is directing a major credit risk department at ING … and I don’t expect him to be aware of Hayek’s teachings at all, of course.
Some of his less important colleagues did listen at parties to the idea that inflation was hell for the economy. All I ever got from him though is a faint bored smile I think and a look saying “let’s talk about something else please”. Well into the crisis (at the time his bank was being bailed out with tax money) he was offering a whole bunch of expensive anniversary jewels in public to his wife. I remember some of us thinking it was quite tasteless. I heard he had been a bit scared he would loose his job in the tumult later though. But now as everyone officially knows, “the crisis is over” and it’s “business as usual”. I’m happy I could get rid of this anecdote here though.
Published: October 22, 2009 7:22 AM
jimc
im 90% sure toms email address is [email protected] if anyone wants to send him a reading list
Published: October 22, 2009 7:44 AM
Madhusudan Raj
This is nothing new for me because it happens with me every now and then here in India. Most of my senior professors confuse Austrian economy with the Austrian school of economics whenever I take them for a debate on Austrian school.
Once in a conference one health economics professor from Aberdeen University told me that he has never heard about the AUSTRALIAN (and NOT AUSTRIAN) school of Economics!
The mainstream economics profession has ignored Austrian school to such an extent that many simply don’t know about it.
Published: October 22, 2009 8:07 AM
John D
After McInerney gave his answer, the moderator replied with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTFwAxfHgSA
Published: October 22, 2009 8:25 AM
Tom Woods
The room was L-shaped, so some people would not have been able to see the camera, but there was one, and two of the organizers tell me it was indeed recorded. I am finding out right now about getting a video.
Of course people are right to observe that relatively few people get exposed to Austrian economics. The point here is that I had just finished a 40-minute presentation on the subject.
Published: October 22, 2009 8:41 AM
Brad
This is not surprising as anyone who is going to succeed in this corporo-fascistic economy – to its highest levels – has to be stripped of any knowledge such as Austrian Economics. It proves just how successful the collectivist, statist mind control has been. THIS is what one should expect to happen – to rise up in the ersatz-private sector one would have to have a mind tuned into the “correct” frequencies and a forty minute treatise on the subject is tuned out as incomprehensible static.
It’s not funny, it’s sad and alarming.
Published: October 22, 2009 8:57 AM
AJ Witoslawski
John D., how sad but true. “Mr. McInerney, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
Published: October 22, 2009 9:00 AM
J Cortez
In my opinion, there’s nothing more entertaining when fools like McInerney hang themselves with their own ignorant words.
Published: October 22, 2009 9:31 AM
Brodie
Tom,
Will this be loaded up onto the Mises channel on youtube?
Published: October 22, 2009 9:35 AM
Richie
Tom,
That means two things: He did not have the intellectual capacity to comprehend your speech, or he just was not listening.
Published: October 22, 2009 9:55 AM
Bob Roddis
I say with a high degree of certainty that the opponents of the Austrian School do not have the slightest familiarity with its basic concepts (although Mr. McInerney may be unusual in having never actually heard of the school even after a 40 minute lecture).
From the various recent attacks on the Austrian School (Yglesias, Krugman, DeLong, Quiggin etc.), it is clear that there isn’t a single critic who understands, for example, Cantillon Effects or the time structure of production. They don’t really reject those concepts. They don’t even get that far. They’ve never bothered to even try to understand what those concepts are if they’ve even heard of them at all. However, I think they understand that a fair and open debate on these topics might be damaging to their religious-like State-as-God worldview.
Which means we will win in the end, right?
Published: October 22, 2009 10:43 AM
Tom Woods
They are going to let me know as soon as the video is ready. I’m told there may be some audio problem, but they’re trying to fix it.
Published: October 22, 2009 11:21 AM
Mike
Bob,
Perhaps. The Internet may be our ace in the hole. The religious (you are absolutely right that statism is a religion) folks who need to have their wisdom spoon-fed to them are always more numerous than those who are mentally awake and not in love with their own thoughts.
In the past, the way the real thinkers were brought together was institutions of higher learning. Since those are long-corrupted, you don’t see large concentrations of real thought anymore. Until now.
The cool thing about being right is that you can be sincere in spreading your ideas; that is, you don’t have to go into salesperson mode. That, and if someone puts enough genuine thought in your idea, they will see that it is right too. So while we still have a job to do in getting the word out, our job is made easier by the fact that we are right, at least on all the obvious fundamentals.
It would be interesting to see if, while the world goes to hell all around us, there are little intellectual pockets of Austrianism in various parts of the world, unified through the glorious thing that is instantaneous communication. When things start to get dicey for the statists, as is inevitable, we may even be able to get us some territory someday.
Published: October 22, 2009 11:43 AM
Ohhh Henry
Good thing you didn’t mention the School of Salamanca, he might have gone off on a tangent about Don Quixote.
Published: October 22, 2009 12:28 PM
Daniel
Tyler Cowen has commented on ABCT, and at least he understands it. Incidentally, his criticism was one of the most hilariously ironic articles I have ever seen
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/01/if_i_believed_i.html
Published: October 22, 2009 1:00 PM
DixieFlatline
I think Tom’s point is important here. He just finished a 40 minute presentation on AE, and this guy didn’t get it.
I’ve shared Tom’s talks via articles and YouTube many times with friends, and they get it. And they don’t speak at conferences, or CEO multi-billion dollar firms.
What’s sad is that McInerney thought he was being smart. If he had done an iota of research on Tom (which I would have done prior to appearing with him, this is why CEOs have PAs) then he would have had a clue that AE is not about a country, but a particular method and tradition.
Is it any wonder folks like this stuff their faces at the public trough after mismanaging their companies?
Published: October 22, 2009 1:18 PM
BN
NFL teams should not run the Wildcat offense because wildcats are terrible at football, in fact, they don’t even play it… idiots.
Published: October 22, 2009 2:05 PM
DF
Hi All,
I consider myself lucky to have Tom Woods come visit us in Connecticut for this event. I was so embarressed for Mr. McInerney when this exchange took place that it actually pained me – awkward! It’s also pretty disturbing!
Thanks Tom Woods for your perseverance and hard work. I don’t know how you keep from banging your head against the wall. It was a real pleasure finally meeting you and an honor shaking your hand.
Published: October 22, 2009 2:39 PM
Michael Maier
The worst thing about this story is that even if someone asks why I was howling with laughter here at work, it would take too long to explain.
BN: that’s a great analogy.
Dixieflatline: I think you give too much credit to the common folks. I agree that’s the way it SHOULD work, but I am often surprised by the vehemence of those denying AE ideas and ideals.
Published: October 22, 2009 2:50 PM
KP
Michael:
Its not that they deny it but rather they are not familiar with Austrian Economics. Keynes and Friedman and there followers make up a large portion of academic interests. If you want to make a comparison its like comparing a giant like IBM or Microsoft that everyone is familiar with or used; with a small operating system or computer manufacturer out of someone’s garage.
It doesn’t matter if that OS or computer from the garage is superior most people won’t know about it.
Published: October 22, 2009 3:48 PM
Deckard
Wife: What’s so funny?
Me: Ah, well in a debate about government intervention during economic collapse, –
Wife: Actually, never mind.
Published: October 22, 2009 4:06 PM
Deckard
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?45e7626019.jpg
Published: October 22, 2009 4:07 PM
Steve
I don’t feel sorry for the buffoon one bit.
It’s tragic that someone who is obviously thought by many to be a “success” in life and therefore at least somewhat intelligent is actually so stupid and came so unprepared for an important discussion.
We need more of these “tragedies” and we need them publicized as much as possible. Let’s bury these idiots!
Published: October 22, 2009 4:09 PM
Ryan
LOL. I need to see this video.
Published: October 22, 2009 4:30 PM
Ben Bernanke
Instead of making a fool out of himself like that when he hears someone mention Austrian Economics he should just smile condescendingly, pick on a tiny, inconsequential technical aspect of the presentation, and then veer off into an irrelevant discussion of the savings rate in developing Asian countries.
Published: October 22, 2009 5:19 PM
John H.
Thanks, this made my day!
Published: October 22, 2009 5:46 PM
Matt
Who cares about Keynesian economics. Kenya is a small country so why should we care what its economists have to say?
Published: October 22, 2009 6:46 PM
e_goldstein
This is a perfect example of too big to fail, too dumb to succeed.
Published: October 22, 2009 7:13 PM
JasonTVMH
@Steve:
[Quote]
We need more of these “tragedies” and we need them publicized as much as possible. Let’s bury these idiots!
[/Quote]
I think they’re doing a fine job burying themselves. 😀
Published: October 22, 2009 8:14 PM
Octane
Oh man I busted up. I have to add my vote to the pool of people asking for a video of this buffoonery.
Published: October 22, 2009 8:51 PM
K.C.
He can’t be that ignorant. He’s obviously pulling an Obama by pretending his critics don’t exist or are unworthy of debate. He’s probably playing the game that most people are too stupid to know the truth or find it out for themselves. He knew he had no leg to stand on against Tom. It was probably meant in jest – at least the ING stockholders hope so.
Seriously though, you could not make up something that funny.
Published: October 22, 2009 8:52 PM
Ball
http://skepticalteacher.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/facepalm.jpg
Published: October 22, 2009 11:40 PM
Tracy Saboe
That’s hilarious LOL
Tracy
Published: October 23, 2009 12:33 AM
TokyoTom
Thanks for this report, Stephan.
And well, said, Tom!
Published: October 23, 2009 1:55 AM
Terri K
Michael Maier, I think DixieFlatline has a good point.
In my experience, many of those formally trained in economics in any way, shape or form, but especially those with credentials from the most highly regarded schools, hang on to their little paradigms like a pit bull with lock jaw.
In contrast, plain ol’ common folks like me, with a healthy case of intellectual curiosity, but with neither preconceived notions nor fancy economics degrees, easily “get it” because AE makes so much logical sense and is easily provable at least a zillion times a day in Real Life. So what if it doesn’t involve complicated mathematical equations and other theoretical BS that makes most people’s eyes glaze over?
The former group simply will not (cannot?) admit that everything they’ve been taught might not be 100% correct. Seems to me, most of them can’t even do even a little critical examination of what they “know to be true”.
Tom Woods explains it all with such clarity, I would think that his words would make someone at least ponder the possibilities. McInerney is a fool.
Published: October 23, 2009 8:22 AM
GilesS
It’s funny how people here just don’t get it.
Published: October 23, 2009 2:47 PM
Lord Buzungulus, Bringer of the Purple Light
GilesS,
Get what?
Published: October 23, 2009 3:13 PM
GilesS
People here are missing quite a bit really.
But what’s really telling is how somebody outside of academia makes a mistake to which people here reply “look how stupid and corrupt mainstram academics are!”.
Published: October 23, 2009 5:26 PM
Lord Buzungulus, Bringer of the Purple Light
GilesS,
Give it a rest. Who are you, anyway, that people here should take your opinion seriously?
Published: October 23, 2009 6:19 PM
D
GilesS strikes me as an arrogant prick.
That it is all.
Published: October 23, 2009 7:29 PM
Bala
GilesS,
I wonder who is not getting it. Looks like you have failed to comprehend the main point of the article – to highlight how
1. the mainstream is completely ignorant of the Austrian School of Economics. That’s rather sad because the Austrian School of Economics is the only one that gives a coherent and easy to understand explanation for the occurence of Business Cycles. It’s so simple even laymen like me can make sense of it. It’s even more sad that as a result, the only real solution to the crisis is not going to be implemented in the near future.
2. how mainstream education dumbs you down to the extent that even if someone takes 40 minutes to explain something in very simple language, all he can do is to completely fail to understand it and instead pompously spew out a load of rubbish.
Published: October 24, 2009 2:07 AM
GilesS
“1. the mainstream is completely ignorant of the Austrian School of Economics. That’s rather sad because the Austrian School of Economics is the only one that gives a coherent and easy to understand explanation for the occurence of Business Cycles. It’s so simple even laymen like me can make sense of it. It’s even more sad that as a result, the only real solution to the crisis is not going to be implemented in the near future.
2. how mainstream education dumbs you down to the extent that even if someone takes 40 minutes to explain something in very simple language, all he can do is to completely fail to understand it and instead pompously spew out a load of rubbish.”
So now every “mainstream economist” who doesn’t understand the ABCT (there’s a lot them) is an idiot? Or at least, they’re “dumbed down”. Perhaps he didn’t understand the argument because before Roger Garrison nobody ever put it in a way that mainstream economists would understand.
The “mainstream” is only ignorant of the Rothbardian branch of Austrian economics, for good reason.
Published: October 24, 2009 7:51 AM
Giles
For what it’s worth, a quick Wikipedia check reveals that Chicago has a higher GDP than Austria!
GDP of Chicago: $ 460 Billion
GDP of Austria: $330 Billion
Published: October 24, 2009 8:57 AM
Chad
I am a history major and I do not know a whole lot about economics in general, but I am pretty sure that I understand the Austrian School (I have never been confused listening to Dr. Woods, anyway). This had me rolling and I cannot wait to see the video!
Published: October 24, 2009 9:37 AM
Tom Woods
GilesS, you actually think Man, Economy, and State is pretty unimpressive, huh?
And no, no one was saying people are stupid for not knowing about the Austrian School. The point was that (1) you might expect someone to look into it before a debate, knowing your opponent will be talking about it, and (2) I had just spoken about Austrian economics for 40 MINUTES.
You’re saying it’s super-smart to think Austrian economics involves the country of Austria, event after you’ve listened to a 40-minute presentation on the subject. I’d love to hear you try to debate that one.
Published: October 24, 2009 11:32 AM
Brian Macker
Giles,
You are not stupid. Just ignorant. Also foolish for not recognizing your ignorance.
Published: October 24, 2009 12:31 PM
Ireland
People mix up economy and economics a lot, but only rarely it results in such an entertaining performance.
Another nice thing is to read Tom in action — there’s more of us waiting for GilesS’s answer …
Published: October 24, 2009 2:25 PM
GilesS
Tom,
Perhaps the guy is an idiot, perhaps he was just not listening. I never disputed this, although I don’t think a single (highly embarassing) mistake such as this is grounds for making such claims.
Now, I don’t know what topic you’ve been reading, but above there’s plenty of comments making statements that just don’t follow from this one guy being an idiot. The idea that “mainstream” academic economics are stupid or dogmatic may also be true (I don’t think it is), but the statements made by the CEO of ING don’t prove this one bit.
(For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed MES).
Published: October 24, 2009 4:15 PM
D
GilesS
You thoroughly enjoyed it; but people ignore it for good reason.
Keep digging….
Published: October 24, 2009 6:47 PM
Lord Buzungulus, Bringer of the Purple Light
D,
Exactly, GilesS is full of crap.
Published: October 24, 2009 8:07 PM