[lbo-talk] Amity Shlaes: Tired of bashing FDR/New Deal, Shlaes is now going after Keynes

[Eubulides]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 8:38 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Nov 19, 2008, at 4:59 AM, B. quoted the execrable Shlaes:
>
>> Keynes taught that spending, especially spending by consumers, is the way
>> out of a slowdown.
>
> No he didn't. He was concerned with the investment behavior of what he
> always called "entrepreneurs." They invest, based on expectations for
> profit. Those expectations are formed, in part, by the expected spending on
> consumption. If those expectations are gloomy, as they are now, then the
> state has to do the investing.
>
> Doug

==============

So investment is a "public good" [I'm shorthanding the "socialization
of investment" hypothesis] but money itself, which has been around for
thousands of years is a "public bad" that in the long run must be
overcomeable as an "institution" if humanity is to realize our species
being or some such........

Why it's enough to make a bloke want to go shopping while daydreaming
about emissions trading!

Ian