Sheldon Richman on the Staying Power of Keynesian Economics

Whatever you may think of Keynesian economics, you have to give
it credit for one thing: its staying power. You can’t watch a news
program without hearing pundits analyze economic conditions in
orthodox Keynesian terms, even if they don’t realize that’s what
they’re doing. What accounts for this staying power?

Sheldon Richman thinks it’s because Keynesianism gives
intellectual cover for what politicians would want to do anyway:
borrow, spend, and create money. They did these things before John
Maynard Keynes published The General Theory of Employment,
Interest, and Money in 1936, and they wanted to continue
doing those things even when trouble came of it. And anyone who has
been watching President Obama’s response to the Great Recession
will realize that policymakers have learned little since the
1930s. 

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