How a Question Can Change Your World

RFK liked to say, "I dream of things that never were, and ask, why not?"

Our politics in this country are in a mess because not enough ordinary people are "curious" about the economic truth. And I don't mean the old ECON 101 "principles". I mean the unexpected truth in practice, such as unearthed and exposed on a few things by the authors of Freakonomics. Do you, for instance, know exactly how that "Consumer Price Index" is computed? What is included? What is not? What are the weightings given to different things? What are the product substitutions? Is the whole thing giving you an HONEST answer about the shrinking value of your money? Do you care? Would you dig? Why not?

of 11:47AM September 04, 2008