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Comment by thomashobohm | Hacker News Reader

"Most economists" never believed that. Lots of people in finance did, sure, but they're not economists.

"Well, unquestionably, housing prices are up quite a bit; I think it's important to note that fundamentals are also very strong. We've got a growing economy, jobs, incomes. We've got very low mortgage rates. We've got demographics supporting housing growth. We've got restricted supply in some places. So it's certainly understandable that prices would go up some. I don't know whether prices are exactly where they should be, but I think it's fair to say that much of what's happened is supported by the strength of the economy." - Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Fed, in 2005.

https://mises.org/library/ben-bernanke-was-incredibly-uncann...

What I don't understand is how people find it very difficult to admit that economists can be wrong sometimes and that their word is not gospel.

I don’t understand how your quote from Ben Bernanke is relevant. Where in the quote does Bernanke say that we’ve fully eliminated volatility? And how is he representative of “most economists?”

I’ve said in other parts of the thread that economists can, in fact, be wrong sometimes. I just find the people making completely unjustifiable assertions about the economy, while simultaneously castigating the economics profession as some cabal of out-of-touch elites who can’t be trusted, unconvincing, when I know that the vast majority of economists are simply researchers trying to understand the world and how to improve it.

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