I've been reading about how the nation's universities have been stocking their economics departments with as many Milton Friedman disciples as possible. Requirements: must believe and be willing to advocate that "free" trade raises everyone's standard-of-living; must believe that lower taxes on the rich raises everyone's boats; must believe that state-owned and state-run properties and services be privatized; must believe that enacting things like a living-wage will cause unemployment; etc.
Some of these young economists proudly boast how they were inspired by that great intellectual huckster, Ayn Rand. Here's just one example:
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/autobio.htmFunny how Limblow, Inanity, and O'Leilly like to paint American universities as bastions of left-wing insurrection, when the evidence shows quite the opposite. Heck, even at Harvard, for the past three decades, every new economics and social science undergraduate major has been required to first take Economics 10 ("Ec 10"), taught by only one professor, Reagan economics advisor Martin Feldstein, who basically indoctrinated each one of his students with the supply-side, privatization, ruthless free-trade spiel. When some Harvard undergrads recently protested the Ec 10 hegemony, and demanded changes, "liberal" Harvard gave them the stiff-arm: the required indoctrination will continue. As lame consolation, a more honest economics general survey course was finally created -- but it's not part of the Harvard Econ department, and credits earned can't replace the obligatory Ec 10.
What's behind all this? Are universities doing this by design, or is it just the way economics department hiring turns out? Anyone here familiar with economics department politics?