Metaphors Reveal the Economic Ignorance of Politicians and Journalists

By Robert Higgs

The past few weeks have been a difficult time for economic educators. Never has it been more obvious that all their efforts have been in vain. Neither the politicians nor the journalists, who have been spewing out words at a rapid rate with regard to the so-called financial crisis and the proposed financial bailout, have a clue about the economy.

It’s not simply that these nincompoops use metaphors, rather than more precise terms and ideas, in speaking about the economy. We all use metaphors to some extent; we can’t talk without them. But the journalists’ metaphors are routinely so mixed that ......