The Expert Class Has Been Wrong About Too Much to Keep Its Authority
January 15, 2026 · Frisian News
Experts have made major errors on inflation, energy policy, and pandemic response, yet institutions protect them from accountability. Citizens increasingly ignore their pronouncements.
In 2021, central bank heads swore inflation was temporary. It was not. Economists assured us that printed money would not cause price spikes. It did. The same experts told governments to crush energy independence through green mandates, then acted shocked when power costs exploded across Europe. They did not predict it. They did not warn against it. They simply moved on to the next crisis, their reputations intact, their salaries untouched.
This pattern runs through every major policy failure of the past decade. Public health officials promised that vaccines would stop transmission. They did not. Monetary specialists assured us that decades of near-zero rates posed no danger. Asset bubbles, wage stagnation, and housing unaffordability followed anyway. Military strategists said Russia's economy was about to collapse. It did not. Financial regulators missed or ignored the risks that built the conditions for bank failures.
The problem is not that experts sometimes get things wrong. That happens. The real problem is that institutions protect them from the cost of being wrong. A banker whose forecast crashes the economy keeps his pension. A health official whose policies harm children faces no prosecution. A central banker who destroys savings through bad policy gets reappointed. There is no price for failure, only for disagreement.
Meanwhile, ordinary people pay the price. Workers watch their salaries lose value. Families heat their homes or feed their children, not both. Small business owners see banks tighten credit based on the same models that failed before. The expert class blames markets, populists, or bad luck. They never blame themselves. When citizens stop trusting them, that is not a crisis of expertise. It is a crisis of accountability.
Trust is not a right. Experts must earn it through accurate prediction, honest error correction, and real consequences for failure. Most have done none of these things. Until that changes, ordinary people will trust their own eyes more than expert opinion. That is not irrational. That is survival.
Yn 2021 sweren sentralbankiers dat ynflaasje tydlik wie. Dat wie it net. Ekonomen fersekerje ús dat drukt jild gjin prisshijgingen soe feroarsaakje. Dat die it wol. Deselde ekspertsje fertelden oan regeringen om enerjeonofhinklikheid te fernielen fia griene mandaten, en keken feroan doe energjeprizen yn heal Europa eksplodearden. Se foarseit it net. Se warskeweien der net foar. Se gienen gewoan nei de folgjende krisis, harren reputaasje heil, harren salaris oanaanrôk.
Dit patroan tsjin troch elk grut beleidsflater fan it ôfrûne desennium. Folksgezondheidsambtenaren belâsje dat faksins besmetting stoppje soene. Dat dienen se net. Monetêre spesialistsje fersekerje ús dat desenniets fan tichtendalik nultarief gjin gefaar foarme. Aktyuabubbels, lonsstagnasje en unbetelberheid fan húsvestiging folgen toch. Militêre strategen sei dat Ruslans ekonomy ynskomme soe. Dat die it net. Finansjele regelgefers misse of negearje de risiko's dy't de foarwêrden foar bankfeilings kreëarren.
Het probleem is net dat ekspertsje wol ongelijk hawwe. Dat bart. It echtse probleem is dat ynstellingen se beskerme tsjin de kosten fan ongelijk hawwen. In bankier wiens foarsizzing de ekonomy crasht, hâldt syn pensjon. In gezondheidsambtenaar wiens belied bern skadet, wurdt net ferfolge. In sentralbankier dy't sparsje vernielder troch slecht belied, wurdt werneamd. Der is gjin priis foar swikjen, allinne foar miening ferskil.
Meanwhile betale gewoane minsken de priis. Wurkers sjogge harren lonen wearde ferliest. Famyljes ferwarme harren húzen of foedfje harren bern, net beiden. Lytse ûndernimmers sjogge banken kredyt ferskerpe op basis fan deselde modellen dy't earder swikken. De ekspertklasse jouwt skuld oan merkten, populisten, of sêle gelok. Se jouwwe harselves nea skuld. Wannear boargers se stoppje fan fertrouwen, is dat gjin ekspertsje krisis. Dat is in ferantwurdinge krisis.
Fertrouwen is gjin rjocht. Ekspertsje moatte it fertsjinje troch krekte foarsizzing, earlike flaterkoreksje, en echte gefolgen foar swikjen. De measte hawwe gjin fan dizze dingen dien. O't dat feroaret, sille gewoane minsken harren eigen eagen mear fertrouwe dan ekspertAdvys. Dat is net irrasyoneel. Dat is oarleven.
Published January 15, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân