Many people think that economics is a technical confusing and even mysterious subject. Economists are best left to experts. But in reality the economics should be quite straightforward. Economics is how we work, what we produce and how we distribute and ultimately consume what is produced. At that simplest, grassroots level we all know something about economics, so we should all talk about economics. Besides we interact, cooperate and conflict with each other in the economy, so economics is a social subject. It is not just technical, tangible forces like technology and productivity that matter. It is also the interactions and relationships between people that make the economy move.
Everyone experiences the economy, everyone contributes to it in one way or another. Everyone is interested in knowing how the economy works, how well it works and in whose interest it works. Everyone has a basic sense of where they personally fit in the larger financial economy and how well they are doing. This is the real stuff of economics.
Unfortunately, most professional economists do not think of economics in this common sense grassroots context. On the contrary, they adopt a superior attitude in their dealings with the uneducated masses. To make their case they often invite completely unnecessary technical mumbo jumbo into their arguments. Those who claim to know what is good for the people do better than themselves. They take great pleasure in explaining theories that are intuitive and confusing to the rest of us. They present themselves as interpreters of a mysterious realm that the average person cannot hope to understand. And as they study things valued in the billions or even trillions of dollars, their sense of importance to themselves and others increases.
This is why we must watch economists on the television news every night. One almost never sees anthropologists, biologists, social workers, nutritionists, or architects on the nightly news. Perhaps we should hear more from those other professions and less from economists. Their advice may be more important to your long-term financial well-being than that of economists.
Nothing better exemplifies the all-knowing attitude of economists than the debate over free trade. Traditionally trained economists take it as a proven fact that free trade between two countries always makes both sides better off. Those who question or oppose free trade organizations, social activists, nationalists, must be either acting out of ignorance, or harboring narrow interests that conflict with the greater good. These pesky people need to be lectured or ignored.
Even worse, economists' arrogance is not value-free. The majority of professional economists outside the academic world work for such organizations. Deeply interested in the position of banks, brokerages, corporations, industry associations and governments.

Within academia, most economists are associated with a specific, peculiar version of economics called NEOCLASSICAL ECONOMICS. This type of economics is as much ideological as it is scientific. It was developed in the late nineteenth century to protect capitalism. Yet trying to prove a whole portfolio of outlandish politically loaded and patently false propositions, such as claiming that ownership of financial assets alone is productive, that everyone is paid according to their productivity, or that unemployment doesn't actually exist.