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Exactly - there is broad consensus, and the controversy is manufactured. Anybody remember Bush's tax rebate? http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/

Exactly - there is broad consensus, and the controversy is manufactured. Anybody remember Bush's tax rebate? http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-25-tax-rebate-checks_N.htm http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-25-... Or all the times Republicans talk about how we can't cut defense spending because of the jobs that would be lost? http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/05/military-spending-cuts-looming-republican-rediscover-keynesianism/52808/ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/05/military-spe... When push comes to shove, they're all Keynesians, anything to the contrary is just populistic rhetoric or opportunistic bashing of things they don't approve of. Pretty much everyone agrees spending boosts GDP in the short run, they may disagree about the size of the fiscal multiplier, what government should spend on, how big it should be, whether it will cause inflation, how much unemployment is structural, what the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment is, etc. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-23/the-u-s-economic-policy-debate-is-a-sham.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-23/the-u-s-economic-po...

tsotha 13y ago
>When push comes to shove, they're all Keynesians... But that has nothing to do with economics. That's because they want to spend money, same as the Democrats. There's precious little reason to believe anything good has come from monetary policy in recent years.
- RockyMcNuts 13y ago
  There are no atheists in foxholes, and there are no conservatives when the pork is being passed out. But regardless, everybody believes spending raises GDP. But one side is afraid it will work too well, and will have undesirable side effects for their constituencies, and finds bashing on the grounds it doesn't work has populist appeal.
  - tsotha 13y ago
    >There are no atheists in foxholes, and there are no conservatives when the pork is being passed out. Well, no conservative politicians. Conservative voters aren't happy about it, but we consider it better than the alternative. >But regardless, everybody believes spending raises GDP. Well, sure, spending raises GDP in the short run. Because GDP includes that spending. I can raise my personal GDP this month by running up my credit cards, too, but that's not necessarily a good thing. The "broad consensus" for Keynesianism is political in nature, not economic. The linked article is correct - you know what an economist is going to find before he starts looking based purely on his politics, and since the academy is far to the left you find lots of support for government solutions to whatever ails the economy.

tsotha 13y ago

>When push comes to shove, they're all Keynesians... But that has nothing to do with economics. That's because they want to spend money, same as the Democrats. There's precious little reason to believe anything good has come from monetary policy in recent years.

RockyMcNuts 13y ago
There are no atheists in foxholes, and there are no conservatives when the pork is being passed out. But regardless, everybody believes spending raises GDP. But one side is afraid it will work too well, and will have undesirable side effects for their constituencies, and finds bashing on the grounds it doesn't work has populist appeal.
- tsotha 13y ago
  >There are no atheists in foxholes, and there are no conservatives when the pork is being passed out. Well, no conservative politicians. Conservative voters aren't happy about it, but we consider it better than the alternative. >But regardless, everybody believes spending raises GDP. Well, sure, spending raises GDP in the short run. Because GDP includes that spending. I can raise my personal GDP this month by running up my credit cards, too, but that's not necessarily a good thing. The "broad consensus" for Keynesianism is political in nature, not economic. The linked article is correct - you know what an economist is going to find before he starts looking based purely on his politics, and since the academy is far to the left you find lots of support for government solutions to whatever ails the economy.