Baffling us with bluster and 'Econobabble'

"Econobabble" by
Richard Denniss.

“Econobabble” caught my attention about the time Malcolm Turnbull orchestrated the July 2 Federal Election.

The PM announced election date earlier this month and we have been subjected to exactly that ever since.

A friend, Juris, and the father of Peter Greste (who began his journalism career in Shepparton) recommended the Richard Denniss book.

Juris has had a life-long interest in urban design and through that has developed a keen sense of the sensibilities of what it is the makes life better and how the inappropriate language can easily corrupt understanding.

“Econobabble” is about exactly that as it is the verbal sleight-of-hand used to make what should be simple, almost unintelligible and impenetrable to most people, and to give it a sense of sophistication and importance.

Most seeking election, from our PM down, talk as if the economy is a science (it’s not), something that only an elite in-group can appreciate and understand and so it is best left to those who pull the financial levers, or that is the implication.

Words like “surplus”, “deficit”, “deregulation”, “profits” and terms such as “market forces”, “terms of trade”, “invisible hand”, “red tape”,  and “nanny state”, “live within our means” are frequently thrust into discussions to both confuse listeners and portray a sense of knowledge; knowledge advocated with such confidence that it’s unquestionably correct and beyond challenge. That is “Econobabble” in full flight.

Unlike science that is based on measurable and identifiable facts, the economy is little more than opinion, but being at the heart of modernity it inevitably, and quickly becomes the province of he or she with the loudest voice, the most charisma and so the most influence.

The recently signed Tran-Pacific Partnership is the pinnacle of “Econobabble" as it took more than 1000 pages of text to explain what Denniss says could be summed up in one line – “There will be no restrictions on trade between Australia and the United States”.

Rhetoric is remote from the restraints of physics, but in economics, anyone can float any idea they like (Australia’s Treasurer doesn’t need any economic qualifications to hold the nation’s purse strings) and so inevitably conversations about money quickly become “Econobabble”.

It is disturbing that the health of our economy and the broader health of Australian society are interrelated is an idea that has become entrenched in the national conversation.

Australia is, or close to the richest nation on Earth and yet even a cursory look shows that many people live in poverty, many are homeless, many live precarious lives, healthcare is not universally available or equitable in any sense, education is becoming polarized between the rich and the rest, and the essence of our society is being skewed to emphasize the individual at the expense of our communities.

Australia may well be economically rich, but it is socially poor as the innovation and drive that has long enriched the country has morphed and solidified into a way of life that favours a relative few and leaves the rest scrambling for the scraps.

Denniss argues we should never acquiesce when confronted by apparently knowledgeable and authoritative people, rather we should question their every comment, and be aware of confirmation bias (agreeing with something simply because it supports existing beliefs).

We should ready ourselves for what will be another month or so of “Econobabble”.