Posted on 07/20/2011 12:01:05 PM PDT by mandaladon
Matt Lewis flags this must-see moment from MSNBC, admittedly a phrase heard only slightly more often than “the good judgment of Anthony Weiner.” Contessa Brewer gets into an argument over economic policy with Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), and tries to talk him down by snidely asking him whether he has a degree in economics … which, to Brewer’s embarrassment, Brooks does: Brooks actually has three degrees: political science, economics, and law. As a lawyer, Brooks would have been experienced enough not to make Brewer’s mistake in a cross-examination, which is to ask a question without first knowing the answer. Not only that, but Brewer was being flat-out rude as well as foolish; MSNBC invited Brooks to appear to get his perspective on the issues. If their hosts respond by belittling them (whether it backfires or not), what does that say about MSNBC, its management, and the kind of invitations they make?
Since Brewer made an issue out of having an economics degree before engaging in economics debates, she must have a doctorate in the subject herself, right? Not exactly. According to her Wikipedia entry, Brewer has a baccalaureate in broadcast journalism (magna cum laude). Apparently they didn’t teach interviewing skills at Syracuse, or logic either, as a requisite for the degree.
As it happens, I don’t have a degree in economics (or journalism), either. I think that it’s entirely possible that the 2008 collapse could have triggered a deflationary spiral that would have created a depression instead of a sharp recession absent the interventions in the fall of that year; it’s at least an arguable point. I don’t have an issue with Brewer discussing economics without a degree, except that she doesn’t seem sharp enough to grasp the issues on her own —
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
She may not have a degree in economics, but she is a brilliant, really-really smart, intelligent, extremely bright, intellectual power house.
Of course, any Republican or Conservative is a knuckle-dragging moron with no brains.
/sarcasm/
How stupid can someone be? She should be doing something else. It involves a pole.....
She has a BA in ‘Journalism’.(Pretty much the same as a degree in sewage plant maintenance).
That makes her an expert on everything.
I may not have a degree in economics but I know to stop spending when I’m broke.
Question also reflects liberal mythology that knowledge can only be conferred by degree. But Mo still schooled her at her own game.
She is mean, snide and snarky -- which perfectly qualifies her for that network.
What would be out of place on that network?
Oh, maybe someone who was competent, personable, intelligent, reasonable, polite and even-handed...
Good thing she is so fine cause she just got pwnd....major
“She is an affirmative action chick.”
Would have been a great comeback. “ yeah. I have an economics degree. And by you having no clue I can only assume you got your job through affirmative action” is that true?”
Actually, economics can explain behavior pretty well in micro-economic cases (i.e. few buyers and sellers in a single market). What it cannot explain is macroeconomics, because economists falsely believe that the underlying princples of macroeconomics somehow differ from those of microeconomics. As if I could add 2 together 1 million times, and end up with a number different than 2 million.
The Austrian economists believe the principles are the same for both cases, and I’ve heard some of them predicted 2008 before it happened.
More importantly, would Laz hit it?
Like a jack hammer. The women I'd hit are usually a sub-set of the women Laz would hit, he being much manlier than I and thus requiring a large pool of women with whom to express his virility.
Long ago, an interviewer would actually read the bio of the interviewee. Idiot.
Clouseau: Does yer dewg bite?
Inn Keeper: No
Clouseau: Nice Doggy (bends down to pet a dachshund - it snarls and bites him)
I thought you said yer dewg did not bite!
Inn Keeper: Zat... iz not my dog!
Economics theory necessarily includes human behavior. That is problematic in itself. That many “economists” disagree on the basic theory for a given “problem” is prima facie evidence that most are charlatans, at best.
“What qualifications does Ms. Brewer have, other than being able to read a TelePrompTer?”
Her qualifications are bulging inside her sweater.
I once represented a sewage plant in a lawsuit. There's some pretty serious engineering and science there.
I applaud the folks that maintain the sewage plants...
Journalists? ... not so much. In this country, they are sewage.
Maybe Mika Brezinski?
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