Groupthink

I Can’t Keep Up With All The Failures

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 24, 2009 20 Comments

I can't keep up with all the ways in which this administration is failing. From the health care restructuring proposals gone sour, to the slippage in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the appeasement of Hugo Chavez and Iran and the bullying of Honduras, to the end...

Not Too Early For “I Told You So”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 14, 2009 3 Comments

The day before the presidential election, when Barack Obama's victory seemed all but certain, I predicted that I would be able to say "I told you so" about what lay ahead:When this bubble bursts, I will be able to say "I told you so." Unfortunately,...

Groupthink, Obama, The Media, and “I Told You So”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 03, 2008 0 Comments

Robert Shiller's recent article, Challenging the Crowd in Whispers, Not Shouts, addresses the phenomenon of Groupthink in understanding speculative economic bubbles. Groupthink is a concept developed by Yale psychologist Irving L. Janis to understand why "experts" fail to speak out publicly to warn that the...

Couldn’t Have Said it Better Myself

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 30, 2008 0 Comments

Similar to my post Obama Is Door No. 2, Fouad Ajami in his great article in The Wall Street Journal, Obama and the Politics of Crowds, points out that the hysteria in favor of Barack Obama long ago passed the stage of irrationality:On the face...

Fear Stalks The Land

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 27, 2008 0 Comments

I created this blog after a conversation with a good friend of mine, someone I respect tremendously for his personal strength under pressure. The topic turned to politics (he brought it up), and we had quite the argument (still friends) over the election. My friend...

Obama is “Door No. 2”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 12, 2008 13 Comments

The presidential election of 2008 is still three weeks away. By all likely measures, Barack Obama will win. It's not a foregone conclusion, but a strong likelihood.Many people point to the recent economic turmoil as the reason for Obama's rise. In the short run, that...

Groupthink Tag