Get Your Popcorn Ready: Joe Weisenthal Has Apologized to Mises...

As a follow up to my post, Joe Weisenthal Goes Total Idiot in an Attack on Austrians, Weisenthal has tweeted up a storm.

So. Some Austrian economics bloggers are having a field day with me for what i said about the definition of inflation economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/02/joe-we…
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 21, 2013

Then Joe tweets:

I don't know the history, but I might have been wrong about the pre-current definition of inflation. In which case I apologize to Mises...
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 21, 2013

I'll say Joe "might" not have known the history of the definition of inflation as an increase in the money supply. He attributed the definition to being a peculiar definition of Austrians. In my post, I showed many non-Austrians who used the term. Indeed, I referenced, among others, Francis A. Walker who used the definition in 1888. The Austrian school had barely started in 1888.

Joe tweets on:

And still the creation of a novel Austrian economics terminology (Catallactics, Praxeology, etc.) is cult-like.
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 21, 2013

With the above tweet, Weisenthal continues with his odd attack on new terminology as being a sign of cult-like activity. But just what is wrong with new terms if they result in helping understand concepts?

Does Weisenthal charge the medical fraternity with being cult like for assigning new terms to newly discovered concepts?


The term bilirubin is used to describe yellow pigment in the blood that gives a yellow coloring to the skin.


The term  hydrocephalus is used to describe when too much ‘cerebrospinal’ fluid accumulates inside the chambers of the brain.

The term necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is used to describe when a section of the wall of the intestine is swollen or inflamed because of damage to the lining.

Are those, in the medical profession, members of a cult because they have developed their own vocabulary to designate different conditions?

But let's get back to economics.



Mainstream economics has done its share of creating new terminology. For example, "quantitative easing" and "core inflation." If anything, the terms catallactics and parxeology highlight important classifications of human action, not before specifically categorized. Thus, these new terms become very helpful. Contrast this with "quantitative easing" and "core inflation," which appear to be terms used to obfuscate what we already understand. Specifically, "quantitative easing" is nothing more than money printing. Core inflation is, well, taking the core out of price inflation. i.e. energy and food prices. To me these two MSE terms, which Weisenthal I'm sure finds no objection with, are much more dangerous, since their only possible purpose in being created is to obfuscate facts.

@guan Right. I have no idea.
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 21, 2013

Here Joe clearly indicates he has no idea what Austrian business cycle theory is about. He is responding to a commneter who wants to know why a definition of inflation as an increase in the money supply should be so important. It is important to  Austrians because we see distortions in the economy, not starting when prices increase, but when new money is created and distorts the economy in favor of the sectors of the economy that get the money first. That's why increases in the money supply are important to us. It gives us a sense of how badly the economy is being distorted. And we know that once the money printing stops, those sectors will crash from the withdrawal of money that was propping up those sectors.

@bamatrader I'm a very skeptical person naturally. But I judge Krugman on his reasoning and consistently coming to right conclusions.
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 21, 2013

Joe, if you are so skeptical, please read this (at that post, follow the links to the 3 other posts) and tell me where I am wrong when I charge that Krugman's entire economic framework is founded on a mis-interpretation of a babysitting coupon co-op story. Go ahead, Joe, read it, I challenge you to find an error in my thinking.

FWIW: If inflation isn't defined around rising prices/loss of purchasing power, then the term has no use to any real people.
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 21, 2013

Joe, see above, relative to why we see an increase in the money supply as very significant. Short anwser: It distorts the economy with new money flowing into specific sectors and then when that money flow stops to those sectors the economy crashes. I'm curious Joe, do you agree this occurs and if you do, do you see a problem with it?