Friday, February 22, 2008

WTF? Greg Mankiw Department

In a comment on Barack Obama, Greg Mankiw, hugely popular and successful econ prof--and gold medalist in the "running dogs of the oligarchy" sweepstakes--offers this exremely odd bit of snark:

The sloppiest sentence so far [in Obama's Audacity of Hope] (page 146):

Over the past decade, we've seen...hefty corporate profits, but a shrinking share of those profits going to workers.
I am pretty sure that the share of profits going to workers has been stable--at zero. Profits are what owners get to keep after workers have been paid.

WTF? Is Mr. Free Market conceding that owners walk off with all the rents, while working stiffs have to slug it out at marginal cost? Is there a dog-eared copy of Ricardo tucked under his pillow? Of Marx?

Or, come to think of it, is he conceding that labor unions offer absolutely no obstacle to owner's attempt to walk off with all the swag?

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