Mike B)
from: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/05/michael-perelman-military-keynesianism.html
"Cold War antipathy toward anything even vaguely related to socialism made one vulnerable to accusations of dangerous political sentiments. While support for government spending might be dangerous, military spending was patriotic because it was largely directed against the Soviet Union.
"In addition, much of the anti-government rhetoric in the United States was built on a dogmatic insistence that government spending is, by its very nature, an unproductive drain on the economy, while private business spending alone is productive.
"Given this environment, many of the leading Keynesian economists in the United States learned to avoid the scrutiny that Samuelson and Tarshis experienced, shielding themselves from any taint of socialism by using the military as a cover. Either because they succumbed to the anticommunist climate of the day or because they feared they had no chance of stimulating the economy through any productive government spending, they recommended unproductive spending. These Keynesians adopted a stunted version of their master's approach to immunize their brand of economics from the charge of socialism or communism. They did so by restricting their calls for increased spending to military programs, presumably intended to assist in the fight against communism - an approach that became known as military Keynesianism."
-- Wobbly times http://wobblytimes.blogspot.com.au/