… in the immortal words of Diamond Jim Fisk.

Go read Krugman. Ouch! Lord Eschaton links to, but does not quote, Krugman’s comment on honor among economists. He should have gone in for the kill:

Two things are really striking here. First is the obsequiousness toward Alan Greenspan. To be fair, the 2005 Jackson Hole event was a sort of Greenspan celebration; still, it does come across as excessive — dangerously close to saying that if the Great Greenspan says something, it must be so. Second is the extreme condescension toward Rajan — a pretty serious guy — for having the temerity to suggest that maybe markets don’t always work to our advantage. Larry Summers, I’m sorry to say, comes off particularly badly. Only my colleague Alan Blinder, defending Rajan “against the unremitting attack he is getting here for not being a sufficiently good Chicago economist”, emerges with honor.

“Obseqiousness” and “condescension” — Those really are the values of courtiers, aren’t they?

Unearned deference (“civility”, “tone”) is a huge part of Village culture. It’s one big reason why Versailles and the Villagers — Bless Their Hearts — are so sick. So far, nothing has changed.

Which is unfortunate, since (see Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers; thanks, VastLeft) high Power Distance Index cultures are prone to crashes.

And not just airplane crashes.

Obviously.