PeterZ wrote:His economic advice was to trade with an enemy. Such trade would help that enemy much more than it would help Grayson. That trade wouldn't have fostered peace. As a military policy wonk, he should understand the motives of potential enemies. He failed miserably in his fields of expertise.
pnakasone wrote:I feel the hard part would be proving that Honor's slap alone caused his career and social damage. Some one like Houseman would have loads of enemies that where waiting for him to slip up and make a major fool of himself to destroy him. Also he would have bodies buried in his closet that he would not want dug up and brought out in the light of day of a trial.
Jonathan_S wrote:Especially since, even without her slap, he was on record as advocating that Grayson dramatically cut defense spending and start trading with Masada (that would disproportionately help Masada) just before Masada launched an unprovoked attack and coupe attempt against Grayson, including abuse of POWs and attempts to perform Edict violating terror bombardments. And houseman got censured for ignoring the head of diplomatic mission's direct orders due to his own ill informed beliefs.
That might have been a positive in certain sectors - if he'd been right - but since he was immediately and graphically proved wrong he'd inflicted quite enough harm on his own reputation before he panicked and inspired Honor to smack him down (literally).
Au contraire mon frère. Houseman was simply spewing out all of the economic advise and options he saw. That is what he was there for. He was simply laying out the big picture, the complete and comprehensive economic picture that Houseman knew was only available and clear to the mind of a brilliant economist.
I don't know how many times I've heard in this very forum that people are only attentive to whatever is going on in their own neck of the woods. Grayson was a planet with a bunch of bible thumping backwoods maniacs. Houseman could not have been blamed for not knowing anything beyond that. Even Honor didn't know a lot of the most significant data on Grayson and the admiral had to clue her in. Houseman could have been charged for being inadequately prepared or ill informed for the ultimate task that lay before him, but I'm sorry, the oversight is the fault of the delegation and/or the inappropriate handling of the mission
before even leaving Manticoran orbit.
Picture Houseman with all the facts, that he has
as an economist understands things, and when he crunches the numbers he sees...
"Oh My God! There's going to be enough profit made in this system to support three or more planets! And there's only two!"
****** *
The human element is always an ignored player.The disconnect is that most people fight over resources. The Solarian League, the Andermani, the Peeps. All of these governments expansion are all about resources. The Short Victorious War was all about the Peep's need to feed its people and give the system an economic boost to appease all of the entities with their hands out. Houseman merely thought the Yeltsin System's war was predicated on that same common, human notion of greed and need. Houseman was simply trying to point out that a war that was obviously based on need or greed would no longer be necessary for this system. That the result of Manticore's assistance would manufacture more than enough to fill the tills of both planets and their GNP pots to overflowing. Houseman didn't understand that this was a holy war of illogic proportions. And I question whether he was adequately primed for that reality. Honor hadn't even been adequately prepared for it until en route. And even then Honor was ill prepared. Houseman was simply inappropriate for the job. Was Houseman even a Christian, believing in a God himself? Because If he wasn't then that fact hammers another nail home in the coffin of his "appropriateness."****** *
pnakasone wrote:Let us be fair to the idiot. The history and reasons behind the conflict between Grayson and Masada where something he could not really wrap his mind around. To him they where trivial compared to what could be gained if they just traded with each other.
ABSOLUTELY!
A manifestation of the human element.The absolute bottom line best economic scenario for the system would be what Houseman was laying out. The information that Houseman was imparting was crucial for him to do so. Lest he ever be judged for being less than comprehensive. It had simply been a wrongful and hasty conclusion to assume that Houseman was ultimately suggesting or advocating any military strategies. But, questioning his
comprehensive and sound analysis—therefore his brightness—impugned his honor, and rightfully so. As a result, Houseman proceeded to make it worst by attempting to defend his intelligence and his honor, his reputation and career, with more project analysis. IOW, Houseman was attempting to impart the knowledge, he wasn't in control of what the Graysons ultimately decided to do with that knowledge.
I simply don't think that Houseman was adequately briefed. Or at the very least, he simply wasn't the best man for the job. Again, the fault of his employers.
