Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA29584 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 25 Feb 2002 17:56:50 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Two financial thought contagion papers now online Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 12:51:25 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F315ivQQkktAAST2L0I0002017c@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 25 Feb 2002 17:51:25.0940 (UTC) FILETIME=[0B84BB40:01C1BE25] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: <AaronLynch@aol.com>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: Two financial thought contagion papers now online
>Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 23:22:09 EST
>
>In a message dated 2/24/2002 9:42:22 PM Central Standard Time,
>ecphoric@hotmail.com writes:
>
> > Subj: Re: Two financial thought contagion papers now online
> > Date: 2/24/2002 9:42:22 PM Central Standard Time
> > From: ecphoric@hotmail.com (Scott Chase)
> > Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk
> > Reply-to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: <AaronLynch@aol.com>
> > >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > >Subject: Re: Two financial thought contagion papers now online
> > >Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 21:18:44 EST
> > >
> > >In a message dated 2/22/2002 6:33:55 PM Central Standard Time, Grant
> > >Callaghan <grantc4@hotmail.com> writes:
> > >
> > > > I remember that even the authoritarian advice of Alan Greenspan
>about
> > > > "irrational exuberance" was laughed at not long before the bubble
> > >burst.
> > > > Someone even wrote a book making fun of his catch phrase. A few
>months
> > > > later, it wasnt' funny anymore. But logic says the stock market
>only
> > >does
> > > > two things: it goes up and it goes down -- sequentially. It's a
> > > > self-correcting mechanism that always over-corrects before it
> > >stabilizes.
> > > > The past history of the market demonstrates this trend over and
>over
> > >during
> > > > the past hundred years. But irrational exuberance is stronger
>than
> > >data
> > >and
> > > >
> > > > that hope that beats eternal within the human breast takes on
>religious
> > > > overtones of belief in the ponzi scheme of an over-subscribed
>market.
>
> > >The
> > > > most common term for it is "The Greater Fool" theory. This
>implies
> > >that
> > >one
> > > >
> > > > can always find a greater fool to sell inflated stocks to. Sounds
>a
> > >lot
> > > > alike the mantra of the lottery ticket buyer: "You can't win if
>you
> > >don't
> > > > buy a ticket."
> > > >
> > > > Grant
> > >
> > >Hi Grant.
> > >
> > >Actually, the book Irrational Exuberance is a serious and very well
> > >done book, not meant as a joke. I think that some media people may
> > >have joked about it, though. It has a chapter on contagions, too.
> > >Also, Alan Greenspan started referring to "the contagion effect"
> > >in reference to the Asian economic crisis in 1997.
> > >
> > >
> > Is that the same Alan Greenspan who wrote the essays "Antitrust", "Gold
>and
> > Economic Freedom", and "The Assault on Integrity" which were published
>in
> > Ayn Rand's _Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal_? What's he up to these days
>;-)
>
>I think he was named Chieftain of the Joint Chairs of Staff, or
>something. Maybe I should take a course in Greenspanology and
>go read those essays!
>
>
http://www.federalreserve.gov/bios/greenspan.htm
He's the big cheese of the Federal Reserve. In other words, if he wakes up
with a headache, the stock market drops a couple points.
The psychobiographical tie-in with Objectivism and Rand is worth a deeper
look for those so inclined, though I'm not sure how committed Greenspan is
or was to Rand's philosophy.
I'd assume Objectivism has had a reasonable degree of propagation within
American culture as a sort of neo-classical form of laissez-faire liberalism
combined with Apollonian (versus Dionysian) egoism and naive realism (the
sort that casually side-steps Hume's problems and demonizes Kant).
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