Any good doctor will know what a healthy body is like, though he  
may spend much time treating the diseases that inflict it.  
  
In similar fashion, a good economist should know what a healthy  
economy is like before the insertions of "monopoly, monopsony,  
oligarchy, collusion, regulation, corruption and frictional  
elements".  
  
The political economy of the 18th and 19th centuries stressed the  
way people behaved without these insertions. Once the basics were  
solidified, the insertions could be dealt with - if necessary,  
one by one.  
  
However, modern economics tries to deal with the mixture of  
"insertions" - an impossible feat that is quite beyond the  
capabilities of modern neo-classicals.   
  
Which doesn't stop them from trying.  
  
Harry Pollard