Where are the Democratic Economists? On TomPaine.com, economist Thomas Palley argues that "the Democratic Party has...slowly lost its voice and fallen silent on the economy, with Democrats substituting a laundry list of program plans for economic vision." Why? Because they've all working under the paradigm of Milton Friedman's laissez-faire economic vision.

Palley mentions Ben Bernanke, Alan Blinder, Gregory Makiw and Lawrence Summers as examples. "All four got their Ph.D.s from Harvard or MIT. No doubt, all four are virtuous people, but virtue is not the issue. The issue is that all share the same invisible hand paradigm...."

Interesting. It's informed arguments like these that make me smile when people refer to Harvard as a "liberal" university. The economics department is probably the most powerful at Harvard, and as Palley rightly suggests, it is deeply conservative.  ¶ 1:46 PM