Dumbest thing I ever heard!

In HOW WALL STREET LEARNS TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY, on

today's (Tuesday, Feb 8, '05) OpEd page of the NY

Times, Robert J. Shiller, writes, "Consider financial

theory ... In effect, it portrays people as nothing

more than 'maximizers' of their own 'expected

utility.' This means that people are expected to be

totally selfish, constantly calculating their own

advantage, with no thought of others."



If this were even remotely true we could never have an

infantry platoon ... or any kind of team for that

matter.



It is SO DAMN obvious that individuals maximize the

expected utility of the group(s) to which they belong

rather than their expected utility in isolation that

one wonders where these so-called financial theory

experts brains are located ... or if they use them.



This is why forming a sense of "community" is SO DAMN

important! It is the self-esteem we feel as a

respected member of a respected "group" that allows us

to function as psychologically healthy individuals.