Obituary - Paul Samuelson (15 May 1915 - 13 December 2009)

It was with great sadness that I read the Paul Samuelson obituary in the Times of 14 December 2009.

As an eternal student of economics I remember reading Samuelson & Nordhaus's 'Macro Economics' as an undergraduate commerce student. Terms like "the paradox of thrift" will remain with me until I too will grace the equivalent of the Viking's Great Hall of Warriors in Valhallha...but first I must find my 'sword of doom' to wield in battle against other greater minds on this battle field for the ground-swell for knowledge and understanding in the arena of Applied and Behavioural Economics.

From 'Analysis to Synthesis' is my current battle cry. As a Behavioural Profit Mechanic I have through subtle means tried to persuade traditional accountants to appreciate the 'Art of Accounting' versus the science of the purely technical application of their chosen vocation.

Statements like 'dancing around the cauldron of the monthly management account stew' are completely misunderstood and construed as a maverick's flight of fancy.

Yet analyse the deeper meaning of that statement and you will discover that I am battling against the 'tyranny of the status quo' by creating a visual metaphor for a totally worthless exercise of chopping the financial story-board into these artificial time frames called calendar months, in order to create or colour a picture of financial performance. And yet every management accountant will have to come clean and confess to the most dreaded phrase of this tyranny...'Let's just accrue to budget'.

Any guilty consciences out there?

I for one will admit to in the past having fallen victim to this practice...

Have you?


theMarketSoul (c) 2009
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