Yea , I smoked a pipe for many yeares and enjoyed it -- until I became a victim of ashma and quit smoking. Now I find smoke of any sort a terrible hazard. More so for my wife for whom smoke of any sort triggers heart fibrilations that are potentially fatal. I think the tobacco companies deserve legal defence just as homocial murderers. No more, no less.
But on the more important question of Krugman versus Stiglitz. To me there is no contest. Though I appreciate and forward Krugman's odd commentary, I tend to agree with his criticism is just neoclassic orthodoxy in critique of neoliberal ideology. It is just nice to see the mainstream agree will the few of us that critique the economic world from the real left.
On the other hand, I think Stiglitz is a different 'kettle of fish'. First, as others have observed, he is not in the same game of personal aggrandizement. Second, along with his fellow nobel award winner (Akerlof) his economics is not orthodox and accepts both institutional frameworks and non-neoclassical frameworks -- e.g. assymetrical information, etc. -- . The beauty of Stiglitz's critique is that it allowed us to deveolop a non-orthodox analysis that we could present, not only to our students, but also to the general public. Without ideological baggage.
In Solidarity,
Paul Phillips.
Louis Proyect wrote:
Carl, I smoked a pipe for several decades before quitting -- and I would be afraid to add up how many thousands of dollars (not covered by insurance) I have spent on repairing (partly) the damage it did to my teeth. Right now, I've got a large gap in the front of my mouth (upper) which has cost me so far %3000 (for the implants) and will cost another thousand or two for the crowns on the implants. And it will cost me about $5000 to get the teeth below filled in. Trying to add it up in my head right now, I must have clsoe to $20,000 dental work in my mouth, counting only repair of the damage done by holding a pipe between my teeth.
Carrol
Mark Jones was a pipe smoker.
Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
