House of Eratosthenes

Keynesian economic theory, which says the most wonderful thing you can do to the economy in a capitalistic society is pool everybody’s money into a big pot by force and then spend it in some unified effort rather than let folks hang onto their wealth to spend as they please — was disconnected from life support yesterday, time-of-death recorded soon after. It was then wheeled down to the morgue and a tag was placed on its toe. We’re all going to stop arguing about it now. Forever. All the economists who’ve been promoting it for the last three quarters of a century…the ones that are still around, anyway…will be issuing an apology for wasting so much of our time, attention and resources.

At least that’s what would be happening in a sane world. In this one, we learn but we still don’t learn:

The government’s economic stimulus spending has already had its biggest impact and probably won’t contribute to significant growth next year, a top White House adviser said Thursday.

Christina Romer, the chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the initial jolt of the $787 billion stimulus expanded the economy in the second and third quarters of this year. But she said the remaining spending will simply keep the economy from slipping.

“By mid-2010,” she said, “fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to further growth.”

That was it. Yep. That’s all you get.

Down in that morgue, they might very well find out rigor mortis set in generations ago. What’s kept the corpse animated all this time? It’s an aristocrat’s pipe dream, not a commoner’s. That big pot…that coffer full of bills, change and gold bars that has to get spent somewhere. We need someone to make the decisions about where it’s supposed to go. As long as civilizations have stood, those who are well-connected and in command of resources have always wanted to be even better-connected, and in command of even more resources. Keynesian theory never really was a theory; it was a tactic.

Let’s just call this the failure it is, and resolve never to do it again. Face facts; if this sequence of events doesn’t demand that kind of an outcome, nothing’s ever gonna.

[…] House of Eratosthenes: Keynesian Economics Dead Forever […]
- Latte Links (10/24) | Caffeinated Thoughts | 10/24/2009 @ 17:53
Keynesian economics will be utilized again for one reason: by using it, Roosevelt wasn’t blamed for turning the recession into a depression (evidence: his face is on the dime). BHO, like Roosevelt, is not looking for a fix, he’s looking to escape blame. The two are not the same, especially when one has no ability to find nor implement a fix (outside of doing nothing).

BHO knows as well as you and I that as long as he throws a pile of money at a problem he can easily claim that the problem would’ve been worse had I not DONE SOMETHING!!

Blame avoided – start minting the new coins.

Unless and until a politican steps forward and says what needs to be said, future catastrophies will happen.

What needs to be said is this:

“You, the American people, by your fickle and immature standards, force every one of us to enact bad policies or face unemployment. Most of these problems stem from years of bad politicians cowing to voters’ needs, and if I proposed a multi-year plan of taxation and sacrifice to fix what your parents and granparents let slide, I would certainly lose out to an immediate “fix” proposed by someone with no history of doing such, in the soonest election available.”

“If we politicians stood behind CEO’s during a downturn we’d be tossed out in a populist fit. If we upheld the rights of bankers to deny loans to the unqualified we’d be hung by our thumbs in a public square. Ron Paul and Calvin Coolidge? Gnats compared to FDR! Ask yourself why – the public cannot bear the shame of not making hard choices when they needed to be made.”

“It’s not my job to educate the people about the rule of law and property rights – I can’t fix twelve years of indoctrination – no one can. As soon as you people decided that the fifties were out, and that the sixties were in, you asked us politicians to ignore civics, property rights, and personal responsibility and only do one thing: keep the buzz going as long as possible. We have done so, until today’s hangover. You’re welcome.”

Alec-Baldwin-in-Glenn-Garry-Glen-Ross-style, of course. Hollywood almost got it right with Warren Beaty’s Bulworth – but not quite.
- wch | 10/26/2009 @ 21:58
[…] I proceeded to pretend we’re all honest, and I wrote up the obit: Keynesian Economics Dead […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 11/08/2009 @ 08:41
[…] Update: I would have appreciated some elaboration on Point #1. Maybe splitting it in two. Whoever wants to call himself a conservative in 2010, should be spirited in launching a devastating attack upon the various wealth-distribution schemes. There needs to be an emphasis on the damage that takes place on the natural-market forces when assets are forcibly taken away from one and given to another. There also has to be a sense of conviction that Keynesian economic theory is not only invalid, but has been repeatedly tested and failed each time. That we are permanently done with it. […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 11/23/2009 @ 20:47
[…] and again and again. How many more times do we have to keep doing this; at some point you have to wake up and smell the coffee. We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 06/04/2010 @ 06:30
[…] economics have been tried often and succeeded seldom-to-never. There is no logical underpinning by which they can work — […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 09/02/2010 @ 06:50

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Keynesian Economics Dead ForeverFriday, October 23rd, 2009

Keynesian Economics Dead Forever
Friday, October 23rd, 2009