I respect everyone in the Zone but recent interactions with ER have ruined the vibe for me here for now. I have a lot of respect for ER’s intelligence and he is absolutely smarter than me about a wide variety of things, but frankly some of his opinions are pure ideology and emotion. Discussing economics with him I get the same feeling I have trying to explain evolution to a creationist. I explain the science, how it works, the huge body of evidence supporting it, and I get back cherry picked data points (sharks in mba ads), or patently ridiculous arguments about the evil intent of all investors. As if there are no good moral, honest people who want more for themselves and their families. (Yes, those satanic investors have families too!) What I don’t get is any acknowledgement or serious discussion of the detailed points I made (e.g., that even lacking noble intent, investment money can produce good results). Or failing tangents and cherry picked data, just the age old loser debate strategy of attacking the messenger and not the message. It’s just like a creationist telling the scientist that evolution is his religion. That’s a near-exact analog in this case. I actually feel more strongly about evolution than about economics, but I doubt any reasonable person would say that my discussing the science of evolution is actually some deep rooted psychological doubt about its validity, or that I’m in an evolution cult. Anyway, I’ve had enough of this nonsense for now. The discussion has lacked a seriousness of thought that the subject deserves. I’ll see you guys down the road.