I’m not an economist and don’t claim to be one, but, I know failure when I see it. And every time Keynesian economics has been tried, it has failed miserably.
Here’s an article from CATO that should remind you of that very fact.
Doubling Down on Failure: Former Obama Official Calls for U.S.-Financed Keynesian Spending Binge in Europe
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell
There’s an old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. This certainly is a good description of Keynesians, who relentlessly push more government spending as some sort of magic potion for the economy – notwithstanding a record of failure.
The latest example if Larry Summers, the former economist for the Obama White House, who says Europeans need to make government bigger.
Here is some of what he writes for today’s Washington Post.
European efforts to contain crisis have fallen short. …Much of what is being urged on and in Europe is likely to be not just ineffective but counterproductive to maintaining the monetary union, restoring normal financial conditions and government access to markets, and reestablishing economic growth. The premise of European policymaking is that countries are overindebted and so unable to access markets on reasonable terms, and that the high interest rates associated with excessive debt hurt the financial system and inhibit growth. The strategy is to provide financing while insisting on austerity, in hopes that countries can rein in their excessive spending enough to restore credibility, bring down interest rates and restart economic growth.
The good news is that Summers recognizes that there has been “excessive spending.” The bad news is that he uses the wrong definition of austerity.
Truth, Lies and In Between 