Here we are… peace out! great recession thanks to me, as you see, we’re not in a depression Recovery, destiny if you follow my lesson Lord Keynes, here I come, line up for the procession
HAYEK We brought out the shovels and we’re still in a ditch… And still digging. don’t you think that it’s time for a switch… From that hair of the dog. Friend, the party is over. The long run is here. It’s time to get sober!
KEYNES Are you kidding? my cure works perfectly fine… have a look, the great recession ended back in ’09. I deserve credit. Things would have been worse All the estimates prove it—I’ll quote chapter and verse
HAYEK Econometricians, they’re ever so pious Are they doing real science or confirming their bias? Their “Keynesian” models are tidy and neat But that top down approach is a fatal conceit
REFRAIN Which way should we choose? more bottom up or more top down …the fight continues… Keynes and Hayek’s second round
it’s time to weigh in… more from the top or from the ground …lets listen to the greats Keynes and Hayek throwing down
KEYNES We could have done better, had we only spent more Too bad that only happens when there’s a World War You can carp all you want about stats and regression Do you deny World War II cut short the Depression?
HAYEK Wow. One data point and you’re jumping for joy the Last time I checked, wars only destroy There was no multiplier, consumption just shrank As we used scarce resources for every new tank
Pretty perverse to call that prosperity Rationed meat, Rationed butter… a life of austerity When that war spending ended your friends cried disaster yet the economy thrived and grew faster
KEYNES You too only see what you want to see The spending on war clearly goosed GDP Unemployment was over, almost down to zero That’s why I’m the master, that’s why I’m the hero
HAYEK Creating employment’s a straightforward craft When the nation’s at war, and there’s a draft If every worker was staffed in the army and fleet We’d have full employment and nothing to eat
REFRAIN REPEATS
HAYEK jobs are a means, not the ends in themselves people work to live better, to put food on the shelves real growth means production of what people demand That’s entrepreneurship not your central plan
KEYNES My solution is simple and easy to handle.. its spending that matters, why’s that such a scandal? The money sloshes through the pipes and the sluices revitalizing the economy’s juices
it’s just like an engine that’s stalled and gone dark To bring it to life, we need a quick spark Spending’s the life blood that gets the flow going Where it goes doesn’t matter, just get spending flowing
HAYEK You see slack in some sectors as a “general glut” But some sectors are healthy, only some in a rut So spending’s not free – that’s the heart of the matter too much is wasted as cronies get fatter.
The economy’s not a car, there’s no engine to stall no expert can fix it, there’s no “it” at all. The economy’s us, we don’t need a mechanic Put away the wrenches, the economy’s organic
REFRAIN REPEATS
KEYNES so what would you do to help those unemployed? this is the question you seem to avoid when we’re in a mess, would you just have us wait? Doing nothing until markets equilibrate?
HAYEK I don’t want to do nothing, there’s plenty to do The question I ponder is who plans for whom? Do I plan for myself or leave it to you? I want plans by the many, not by the few.
Let’s not repeat what created our troubles I want real growth not a series of bubbles Stop bailing out loser, let prices work If we don’t try to steer them they won’t go berserk
KEYNES Come on, Are you kidding? Don’t Wall Street’s gyrations Challenge your world view of self-regulation? Even you must admit th