Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (6248)	3/10/2004 7:15:35 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) of 81568

You are citing Keynes from 1919. He was a proponent of deficit spending as a temporary stimulus for a stumbling economy: Keynes' theory suggested that active government policy could be effective in managing the economy. Keynes advocated counter-cyclical fiscal policies: deficit spending when a nation's economy was sluggish and the suppression of inflation in boom times by either increasing taxes or cutting back on government spending. His macroeconomic model offered a way of calculating the equilibrium state of an economy and defining inflation and recession as departures from it; thus policy could proceed from analysis. This contrasted with the neoclassical analysis of government intervention in the economy. It was always clear that government work was an alternative. It could increase wages temporarily and therefore increase the demand for goods, stimulating production. But there was no reason to believe that this stimulation would outrun the side effects that discouraged investment — the government, competing with private interests, would be bidding up the wage rate, leading to no overall increase in economic activity. The underlying assumption was that capital had to be directed to increasing productive capacity. A public-works program diverted capital from its proper job. en.wikipedia.org Might he have preferred getting the stimulus from spending more rather than taxing less? I'd have to go back and read some more of his later writings to debate that point. But he clearly thought that running deficits in a time of economic slowdown was the appropriate policy. And that is what Bush has done, and the GDP growth has been fairly good on average the past nine quarters. Job growth always lags GDP growth during a recovery, but it usually does not lag GDP growth by as long as it has this time. Is that Bush's fault? I don't think so; many here apparently do. I guess that's why we have elections.

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next