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International
Islam ’doesn’t’ slow economies it just halts them!
2003-12-22
EFL
Is Islam a drag on economic growth?
Yes.
Economists have debated the impact of religion on economic performance for many years. A long line of scholars has blamed the relative poverty of Muslims today on their religious beliefs.
But...
But economist Marcus Noland maintains that this long-standing view is wrong.
He is in a lonely, dark room. If my head is jammed up my a#*, does this mean I am headless?
"There is nothing inherent about these [Islamic] societies that they have to perform poorly," says the economist with the Institute for International Economics in Washington. "If anything, Islam promotes growth.... There may be undue pessimism about the prospects of these countries."
I was under the impression that for an economy to flourish, there are certain liberties that are required.
His thesis has many critics.
Shocker!
Oddly, Noland’s recently published paper, "Religion, Culture, and Economic Performance," has become something of a minor hit on the Internet. Web surfers have picked up the report and filled Noland’s Internet mailbox with kind, gentle responses. Many of them are critical, some couched in religious terms. Some Hindus in India, for instance, don’t have much good to say about Muslims.
Why’s that?
Sometimes the responses boiled down to "My God is greater than your God," Nolan says.
Or, I am freer than you are. Nanny, nanny, boo, boo, stick your head in....

I'd guess that in most cases they didn't boil down to "my God is greater than your god," but that he doesn't want to discuss those.

Sometimes it's great fun to be counterintuitive and make devil's advocate arguments. In the actual world, your opinion can be anything you convolute it to be; reality sticks stubbornly to what actually happens.

You can't have a thriving economy when The Masses™ are mired in poverty and ignorance. Reading the same book over and over, even if it's a good one, isn't going to expand your mind — you become less ignorant, but only by one opinion.

One form of ignorance the Islamic world is notable for is xenophobia. Hatred and distrust of outsiders depresses the society's willingness to engage in trade, not to mention what it does to the willingness to trade on an honest basis. That leads to self-destructive stupidity, like Nigerian Muslims refusing to have their children innoculated against polio because of Infidel Plots™, or Somalis refusing to use rubbers, or Pashtuns refusing to use anything that doesn't require replenishing ammunition.

As a devout agnostic, my God may or may not be more powerful than his god, if any; but Islam objectively shoots itself in the foot by fostering ignorance.
Posted by:Dragon Fly

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