I take my economics straight up and coastal, thank you very much.

by David Safier

B. Kalafut, an occasional commenter here, wrote this about me on his blog:

Safier is on the wrong side of very many things and probably read his econ texts upside down and backwards . . .

Ben, you're mostly, but not completely wrong. I used to challenge my econ profs by telling the number crunchers among them, they draw conclusions that are wrong to four decimal places. And I take my Paul Krugman straight up, no chaser.

But there's one economist I read upside down: Milton Friedman. I find that if you turn the text upside down, pick out the symbols that closely resemble ancient Aramaic, then coordinate them with some of the more arcane passages in the Kabbalah, you get the following message:

"Help! I'm being held prisoner by a group of Ayn Rand-crazed libertarians. Please get a message to Paul Krugman and have him round up a posse of coastal economists to GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

I cut Kalafut's comment about me a little close. Here's the whole thing.

Safier is on the wrong side of very many things and probably read his econ texts upside down and backwards, but is usually on the right side of the truth, which is important. He's been taking the Goldwater Institute hacks to task for some time.

Ben and I don't agree on much, but we agree on our distaste for G.I. And his blog is called Goldwater State, of all things. Which means he thinks Ladner, Dranias, Schlomach, et al, are taking Barry's name in vain.

You're a good man, Ben. Misguided, but honest, and a good man.