Written by someone who pretends to know nothing about economics to sell books to people who know nothing about economics. Economists don't make dire predictions about going over a cliff because of contagion effect. He knows how it works. The Fed raised rates sharply, starting in 2004 to tighten credit. In 2007, they cut rates aggressively to avoid a bubble burst. Tells you what you need to know. Furthermore, no one predicted Congress would pressure GSE's into propping up the mortgage-backed securities market in 2006 and 2007, which ultimately led to a hard landing in 2008.
There are two different kinds of tyranny. Anarchy and authoritarianism. Every reasonable philosophy is trying to have it both ways. Free-market economics merely acknowledges mankind's natural behavior, and attempts to harness the productive attributes for the benefit of our species. The only real argument is about the nature of market-failure, and how to address the failure without triggering bigger problems.
The author is asserting that general theories with limited effectiveness and various caveats are held up by "mainstream" economists as universal economic models. Furthermore, he is intolerant of economic competition and debate between competing theories, which is as pointless as being upset with traders for not agreeing on whether an investment will increase in value or decrease in value.
