Pray for Keynes

So what exactly is the economic principle underlying the President's stimulus package? Pure Keynesian economics. John Maynard Keynes, a British economist, taught that a big burst of deficit spending by the government could resuscitate an economy. The current stimulus package is widely seen as the first real big test of Keyensian doctrine. Reagan (Happy Birthday!) used Keynesian, Friedman (money supply), and Mullen (supply-side) as a three legged stool which, of course, did work. This will be the first time, however, that Keynes' approach is all by itself, sort of (obviously the Fed is still manipulating the money supply.) Anyway, it's fun to be part of history, a little experiment of sorts. If it works, than great. If it fails, well, too bad; just move over you're hogging the gutter!

This morning, NPR correspondent David Kestenbaum reported that after interviewing some Keyensian economists he was surprised to find that even some of them had their doubts about the President's stimulus package. You can hear the audio here.