miljacicOnce I had to reason with a decently smart guy (engineer at a very prominent institution) about minimum wage. It was comical to see how his mind shut off and would not accept elementary reasoning… and how he tried to come up with a bunch of wild and creative excuses and gimmicks until we just had to quit. He kinda got it that what I was saying was kinda… right, but… it just couldn’t be so!
At another time I talked with another very, very intelligent young person (soon getting his technical PhD) about some basic economics and things eventually got totally stuck… and finally I realized, and he said so, that he is absolutely certain that ANY economic exchange between two parties consists of an exploiter and an exploitee. Someone is always exploited and humiliated but has to accept the exchange because… bad living circumstances are forcing him to be used and abused. At this point it was HOPELESS to continue. I was speechless.
And these two cases were not only smart but a very, very nice and genuinely kind people. So… what to say? Is intellectual mind a tool of truth or a tool of falsehood?
Talking economics with someone unprepared is walking barefoot over fire. No matter what you say you’re gonna get it.