i don't really want to get moral on the guy. i mean, i share the revolted reaction. but his real problem is that he doesn't understand what drives people. he'd rather base his concepts of human behaviour on what some philosopher deduced than on any kind of actual study. it's a bigger problem than this guy.

they've done studies that have determined that the only people that think like economists are economists. that is to say that homo economicus is a pretty good description of economists, but a terrible description of everybody else. which demonstrates that their concept of "human nature" is something that economists *learn* in their academic training, rather than a universal constant.

most people don't care about working hard and building empires and being rich (forget the plausibility...), they care about being able to spend time with family and friends and engage in however they define recreation.

so, we need to take power away from the economists. we need to stop pretending that economists understand human behaviour. this guy is just a symptom of a false worldview.

http://www.thealbatross.ca/27691/kevin-o-leary-fantastic-news

i mean, we need to shift to behaviourist economics, yeah, but the focus of that shift is taking economics out of the center of human decision making. this entire type of thought, from mill through to marx and hayek and beyond, is just not reflective of what we are as creatures. we're about the theatre, and the academy, and not the agora...