January
28The Goldman Doctrine
When William Goldman said “nobody knows anything” about the movie business, everybody thought he had come up with a keen insight. Well, maybe he had, but his remark applies much more to the economy than to Hollywood.
The economy is broken, but the gurus will fix it, right? Wrong.
Britain’s template for rescuing its banks has only resulted in “shorn bank shares, shaven poll ratings and shredded nerves,” as The Economist reminded us this week. Sarkozy’s charisma in France has yielded only riots and growing unemployment. Poor little Iceland has basically gone belly up.
In the U.S., the Democrat’s solution is awash in entitlements and the Republicans want to convince us that only tax cuts will provide the magic stimulant. Some 150-plus economists signed a petition in today’s New York Times, paid for by the Cato Institute, reminding us that “more government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the US out of the great depression.” The economists argue that “a reduction in the burden of government” is the best policy.
So here’s the ultimate truth we have now learned: In point of fact, nobody knows anything.
And I wish that only applied to Hollywood.
The economy is broken, but the gurus will fix it, right? Wrong.
Britain’s template for rescuing its banks has only resulted in “shorn bank shares, shaven poll ratings and shredded nerves,” as The Economist reminded us this week. Sarkozy’s charisma in France has yielded only riots and growing unemployment. Poor little Iceland has basically gone belly up.
In the U.S., the Democrat’s solution is awash in entitlements and the Republicans want to convince us that only tax cuts will provide the magic stimulant. Some 150-plus economists signed a petition in today’s New York Times, paid for by the Cato Institute, reminding us that “more government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the US out of the great depression.” The economists argue that “a reduction in the burden of government” is the best policy.
So here’s the ultimate truth we have now learned: In point of fact, nobody knows anything.
And I wish that only applied to Hollywood.
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Peter, I''''m hoping that someone with your pedigree can finally bring this to light. This is not an opinion, it is an objective fact: William Goldman didn''''t coin the phrase "nobody knows anything" about Hollywood. It comes from Garson Kanin''''s book, "Hollywood," and he''''s quoting Samuel Goldwyn. You can look it up! In typical Hollywood screenwriter fashion, Goldman''''s most famous dictum is plagiarized from two other top Hollywood authors, Kanin and Goldwyn.
Posted by: Scriptdog | 2/1/2009 7:22:51 AM
Like all generalizations it''s only partly true. People crave certainty and when they don''t get it, they refuse to accept that they are limitedin their knowledge. As for economics, FDR''s mistake was that he did not increase spending much more as can be seen deficit/GNP ratio which did not increase becuase he was afraid of inflation.
Posted by: makven | 1/29/2009 10:30:56 PM