On Sun, 4 May 1997, Jay Hanson mailto:[log in to unmask] wrote:

> I am trying to "personalize" the problem.  I am sure you agree
> that although Americans vote on "overt politics" every two years,
> "covert politics" (economic theory) never appears on anyone's
> ballots.
>

I agree that economic theory is political. However, in this case, I
thinkthose with power are practicing "unconscious" politics instead of
"covert" politics. Many politicians and economists prefer systems to people.
They have been trained to think in terms of "system performance"
rather than in terms of human needs and wants.They reason that if the system
indicators are doing well then society must also be doing well. They see
economic systems as being independent of the humans on which their existence
actually depends.

> First experts must identify "objective measures" of human welfare,
> then politics must decide WHICH objective measures are important
> for society.

You can't identify ANY "objectives measures" of human welfare unless you
already have an agreement about what your going to be measuring, ie. what
*possible* things contribute to well-being.This is the subjective or
political part. Once this part has been settled then experts can
establish "objective measures" for all the different things believed to
contribute to our *collective* well-being.

I agree with most of what you said in this post. I am not trying to make
what you say look wrong or mistaken, I am just trying to point out that
there is both a "political" AND an "objective" aspect with every "objective
measure".

Harry




>
> For a nice chart on human welfare, see:
>  http://www.dieoff.org/page16.htm
>
> To read about the Genuine Progress INdicator, see:
>  http://www.dieoff.org/page11.htm
>
>
> Jay -- www.dieoff.org
> -------------------------------------------
> Pluto (pluoo-toe) noun
> 1. Roman Mythology. The god of the dead
>    and the ruler of the underworld.
>
> 2. American politics. The family of
>    corporations that bought America's
>    political system.
>