[batista]

>I'm not sure how any of these qualify the man as someone to be listened on the topics of economics or manufacturing.

Maybe because neither economics, nor manufacturing nor any other field, are fields to be left to the "experts", to the exclusion of the citizenry in general (economics especially, as a soft science that leaches on Math and thrives on state power, is full of idiotic experts, with Phds and Nobels to match, whose aggregate predictive performance is closer to a coin toss, if not negative).

Not to mention that arguments are to be judged in themselves, not based on the expertise of who's making them.

[bdunbar]

to the exclusion of the citizenry in general

If I'm sick, I want a doctor. If I want to know how to shoot pie-sized targets at 500 meters, I'll find a Marine.

Life in the 21st century is complicated, seeking opinions from people in a given field is required if one is to know one's [redacted] from a hole in the ground.

arguments are to be judged in themselves, not based on the expertise of who's making them.

Arguments are context-free? Okay.

Skimming the linked article I found the arguments themselves to be less than persuasive.