cargo cult economics
n.— «With a new year ahead, what do we see as our future? How much of our growth and progress is real, and how much is what I call “Cargo Cult Economics,” where we end up holding sacks of straw? At the end of World War II, villagers from the Pacific islands and New Guinea had been used to seeing an endless flow of aeroplanes flying in with huge quantities of goods and material for the armies fighting Japan. Then suddenly it all stopped. A number of movements started which attempted to stimulate this flow again. Villagers built mock airports with control towers made of timber and straw; they built dummy aeroplanes and radios and the modern paraphernalia associated with an advanced economy. What they did not understand is that these things do not appear by magic.» —“Fortune doesn’t fall from the sky” by Ray Beatty Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia) Jan. 4, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what’s called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a species. A book about the end of the universe...