The Devil’s Dictionary of Economics
Search For: (All Definitions Starting with the Letter: N)
Definition Total: (10)
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| Narcissism |
John McCain accuses Barack Obama of being narcissistic, no better than Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. Initially he was going to say “Jean Harlow,” but his campaign manager insisted that he cite Spears and Hilton instead. “Who?” responded a befuddled McCain. See Ken and Barbie.
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| NASCAR Dads |
A crucial voting bloc! Who are they? Paunchy middle-aged men who are very proud of how hard they work – a claim only slightly tarnished by how easy it is to find them spending a hot afternoon sitting in an air-conditioned bar looking down the bartender’s blouse while boring her nearly to death with their opinions on sports, politics, economics and other subjects about which they enjoy a seemingly infinite expertise. They firmly believe that Hillary Clinton has a place at the White House. Given her well-known talent for spotting snipers that nobody else can see, that place would be on the roof with a pair of binoculars. They wouldn’t allow her inside the building if there were tornado warnings. They are unaware that their wives support Hillary. The amount of communication between NASCAR Dads and Soccer Moms is roughly comparable to that between dogs and goldfish – just because they live in the same house doesn’t mean that they talk to each other. See Morons.
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| Natural Rate of Interest |
In Section VI of my 2004 paper, I write, “Austrian economists’ most egregious display of naïveté is in regards to their conception of a natural rate of interest. There is no such thing. In any case, credit limits are more important that interest rates and there are many people who cannot get credit at all. Interest rates only affect how much money is being transferred. They do not affect who gets it.” See The Answer to The Question.
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| Near Abroad |
"Russia has never been conquered, not in 1,000 years, though many tried," says a young Russian. "It's because it's in our genes not to allow anyone to dictate the conditions, how to act, where to act." He has a point. Nobody has tried to conquer the US since 1812, but Russia has seen many such attempts and has no natural defensive line, like an ocean or a mountain range to stand behind.
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| Needful Things |
As an economist I can tell you that different people need different things – everybody has their weakness. But, in the end, what they always need are weapons. See my Sniper Flash Cards.
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| Newman, Rick |
"It doesn't add up. American consumers see gloom all around, with new consumer confidence numbers that are the worst since 1992... This, even though it's not clear we're even in a recession." Newman's use of the phrase "add up" is a clue. He sees consumer confidence as being a mathematical function, to be determined by linear regression, of a number of inputs like prices and employment. However, as I emphasized in my book, statistics on both are meaningless. Anyway, consumers aren't dogs in Pavlov's laboratory that salivate at certain combinations of inputs and growl at others. They are guided by an economic theory - usually a simplistic one like Austrian Economics, but still a theory. The solution is not a more sophisticated manipulation of meaningless statistics, as Newman seems to think. The solution is to provide laymen with a better theory. Axiomatic Economics is a little heavy on math for laymen, but it is not beyond the more studious ones.
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| North, Gary |
“Every insider knows where the weak chinks are in his movement’s armor. The best test of a critic’s mastery of his opponent’s system is his ability to go straight for his opponent’s weakest spots.” See my Critique of Austrian Economics.
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| Nothing |
What government economists have learned since the 1992 recession. They are responding to this one with exactly the same propaganda.
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| Nowak, Lisa |
Elliot Spitzer’s new flame. She’s on the way. The good news is that he won’t have to pay for any expensive train rides or, for that matter, wait though any time-consuming bathroom breaks. The bad news, for Silda Spitzer, is: You’d better run!
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| Nutcase |
The word that brainwashed cultists use to describe anybody who attempts to de-program them. See Mises Institute
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