I found a quote I particularly like in a blog comment at http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/12/michael-hudson-responds-to-paul-krugman.html

“neoclassical economists are rich people’s useful idiots.”

Another commenter there added this:

Dr Mason Gaffney’s The Corruption of Economics is useful reading in this general vein of the co-opting of modern economics.

The University of Chicago was founded with Rockefeller support. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

I think the root of a lot of our current economic problems can be found here. Our prominent economists learned their economics from neoclassical textbooks and instructors and full professors who learned their economics from neoclassicals. I suspect, too, that it is very difficult to teach what one doesn’t know. It is difficult to get tenure from neoclassical departments if you aren’t hewing the line.

I commend to your attention Mason Gaffney’s newest book: After the Crash: Designing a Depression-Free Economy. Unless, of course, you like booms and busts. You can order it at http://www.schalkenbach.org/ or from Wiley.com.