Gary North vs. Walter Block on the Value of a PhD in Economics, Ron Paul Ignored This Morning, and Banksters Make Rioters Look Like Fools

Check out this intriguing debate between the great Gary North and the fantastic Walter Block at Mises University on whether getting a PhD in economics is still a valuable endeavor:

As I have professed many times on this blog, I am a huge Gary North fan and think that he is by far the best Austrian writer on political economy in the country.  With that being said, it was a tough choice to make on who won the debate.  Though I do love Walter Block, especially his "take as much money from the state as possible" theories, in the end he lost for style.  North is a phenomenal public speaker and made the moral case against continuing to get an education in the government dominated-education cartel known as higher education.  Though North did acknowledge that getting a PhD may be a good idea for some people, he makes it clear that it is a tough journey for many people and needs careful consideration from anybody thinking of pursuing such a degree.  Though Block is right in that many students can get a PhD in Austrian economics from a number of professors who are sympathetic to the school of thought, at this point there seems to be way more students than professors, which in itself is a good sign of a growing trend.

My bias with North though resides mainly in that I am following the path he advocates, this blog and my writings are self evident of that.  I can only hope to be successful.

Yesterday, in regards to Ron Paul's almost victory in Iowa, I wrote this as a prediction of how the media would react:

• Paul wins straw polls all the time, no big deal here


• Iowa doesn't represent America, no big deal here


• Paul, despite almost coming in first, is still too fringe for the American public despite a growing hatred for war and Wall Street, no big deal here


• Bachmann still came in first, no big deal here

Funny, Roger Simon of Politico proves my point exactly by calling out his own industry:

Simon is right, Paul barely got any coverage on the Sunday shows this morning.  From comment threads I have read elsewhere, it seems that many called into C-Span this morning and bitched about the media's predictable response.  Needless to say, there is an editorial brewing inside me right now.

H/T Jonathan Catalan, I will end with this fantastic editorial cartoon:

Hmmm, so why is one demonized by the public and the other is advocated for every Monday and Friday on the New York Times editorial page by Paul Krugman?