http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=191637

Vox takes no prisoners today.

Quote:In the end, Keynesian economics has turned out to be nothing more than an intellectual excuse for politicians to do what they always want to do, which is spend more money.

Well said.

(08-16-2010 01:07 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

Quote:In the end, Keynesian economics has turned out to be nothing more than an intellectual excuse for politicians to do what they always want to do, which is spend more money.

Well said.

Keep in mind that we have not really followed Keynes. Keynes says very clearly that after running deficits to stimulate demand during hard times, you have to run surpluses to repay the deficit debt and free up capital for the supply side during good times. We haven't done the latter in 50 years, except briefly under Clinton with a republican congress.

Obama is projecting trillion dollar deficits with 4% economic growth. Keynes would throw up.

(08-16-2010 02:32 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2010 01:07 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

Quote:In the end, Keynesian economics has turned out to be nothing more than an intellectual excuse for politicians to do what they always want to do, which is spend more money.

Well said.

Keep in mind that we have not really followed Keynes. Keynes says very clearly that after running deficits to stimulate demand during hard times, you have to run surpluses to repay the deficit debt and free up capital for the supply side during good times.

Actually, the author makes exactly that point. To paraphrase one of the commenters, Keynes was wrong b/c he expected to gov't to behave outside of it's immediate interest.

BTW Owl, your comments on Clinton have got me thinking. Could it be that we're ignoring the most solid president in the past 40 years: GHW Bush?

I mean he had us fight a war that we were almost forced into. He got out ASAP. And then tried to navigate through a recession w/o too much gov't involvement.

All that's from memory, not a lot of detailed research. But GHWB did some things right.

(08-16-2010 02:32 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2010 01:07 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

Quote:In the end, Keynesian economics has turned out to be nothing more than an intellectual excuse for politicians to do what they always want to do, which is spend more money.

Well said.

Keep in mind that we have not really followed Keynes. Keynes says very clearly that after running deficits to stimulate demand during hard times, you have to run surpluses to repay the deficit debt and free up capital for the supply side during good times. We haven't done the latter in 50 years, except briefly under Clinton with a republican congress.

Obama is projecting trillion dollar deficits with 4% economic growth. Keynes would throw up.

That's true. It would be more accurate to say "neo-Keynesian" there.

(08-16-2010 02:39 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(08-16-2010 02:32 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2010 01:07 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

Quote:In the end, Keynesian economics has turned out to be nothing more than an intellectual excuse for politicians to do what they always want to do, which is spend more money.

Well said.

Keep in mind that we have not really followed Keynes. Keynes says very clearly that after running deficits to stimulate demand during hard times, you have to run surpluses to repay the deficit debt and free up capital for the supply side during good times.

Actually, the author makes exactly that point. To paraphrase one of the commenters, Keynes was wrong b/c he expected to gov't to behave outside of it's immediate interest.

BTW Owl, your comments on Clinton have got me thinking. Could it be that we're ignoring the most solid president in the past 40 years: GHW Bush?

I mean he had us fight a war that we were almost forced into. He got out ASAP. And then tried to navigate through a recession w/o too much gov't involvement.

All that's from memory, not a lot of detailed research. But GHWB did some things right.

He actually had the balls to make a number of very tough decisions. And that's a big part of why he lost his re-election campaign.

(08-16-2010 02:39 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(08-16-2010 02:32 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2010 01:07 PM)BlazerFan11 Wrote:  

Quote:In the end, Keynesian economics has turned out to be nothing more than an intellectual excuse for politicians to do what they always want to do, which is spend more money.

Well said.

Keep in mind that we have not really followed Keynes. Keynes says very clearly that after running deficits to stimulate demand during hard times, you have to run surpluses to repay the deficit debt and free up capital for the supply side during good times.

Actually, the author makes exactly that point. To paraphrase one of the commenters, Keynes was wrong b/c he expected to gov't to behave outside of its immediate interest.
BTW Owl, your comments on Clinton have got me thinking. Could it be that we're ignoring the most solid president in the past 40 years: GHW Bush?
I mean he had us fight a war that we were almost forced into. He got out ASAP. And then tried to navigate through a recession w/o too much gov't involvement.
All that's from memory, not a lot of detailed research. But GHWB did some things right.

This is why capitalism works best. It is the one system that does NOT assume key players will act contrary to their own personal best interests.

You may be onto something with GHWB. I'm still thinking he'd have been re-elected if he'd kept his "no new taxes" pledge. The Reagan/GHWB/Clinton cycle was pretty solid. I'm guessing most folks felt a whole lot better about where we were in 2000 than 1980. With 8 years of Shrub followed by 4 or 8 of Obama plus who knows, I doubt we'll be able to say the same about 2020 v. 2000.

(08-16-2010 02:32 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  You may be onto something with GHWB. I'm still thinking he'd have been re-elected if he'd kept his "no new taxes" pledge. The Reagan/GHWB/Clinton cycle was pretty solid. I'm guessing most folks felt a whole lot better about where we were in 2000 than 1980. With 8 years of Shrub followed by 4 or 8 of Obama plus who knows, I doubt we'll be able to say the same about 2020 v. 2000.

Interesting points on Keynes (maybe he wasn't as dumb as it seems at first blush - just naive about what can be done with our government) and that 20 year span of governance may be the best we'll see in a long time.