Economics: Does anyone really know what time it is?

Owen got me thinking. Here are my scattered thoughts...

• In many countries, the courses you take are in Political Economy, instead of Economics. Perhaps I would have majored in political economy, but economics seemed like it was just about how our capitalist system works, as if that were the only way things could possibly be.
• At Notre Dame, dissenting voices in economics were pushed out.
• What does it mean that most people do not understand economics?
•  Owen Thomas, blogging as vlorbik, went to a local conference in Columbus, Ohio, and has pointed the rest of us to some good documents here.
• About 25 years ago, I went to a People’s Economics Seminar. It was good stuff, but (ironically) what I remember is being bummed that they weren’t progressive enough about how to do education. Too much lecture left me antsy…
•  I subscribed to Dollars and Sense for a while. I don't remember it very well. Their site looks like it has some good information. It also looks a bit overwhelming. Does understanding economics require understanding what's going on all over the globe? That's big.
• This site, The People's Economics, looks interesting too.

When I have time to read something other than math, I'd like to come back to this...