The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
— John Kenneth Galbraith
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
— John Kenneth Galbraith
There’s also the famous YES PRIME MINISTER scene:
Hacker: Why didn’t the Cabinet Secretary warn me about the financial meltdown?
Bernard: Oh, I don’t think Sir Humphrey understands economics, Prime Minister. After all, he did read classics at Oxford.
Hacker: Well, why didn’t the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury say anything?
Bernard: Ah, he has an even bigger problem understanding economics, Prime Minister. He’s an economist!
HA!! Thanks for the laugh, Kendall. (And I might add, given that it’s Super Tuesday, that election day exit polls might arguably fall in the same category!)
Obviously speaking of his own prognostications, he was. Wasn’t it JKG that warned us of the imminent hegemony of Ford and who heaped praise on the efficiency of the Soviet economic model?