patrick.net

To the extent that we're crawling out of the hole, it's due to Obama's spending and loose Fed policies - the former being far more impactful than the latter.

The stimulus barely filled the hole in overall domestic spending created by the utter collapse of state spending during the recession. The result was hardly Keynesian; more like a slight increase in overall government spending.

I dislike the idea of the government funding the economy, but the wealthy - even after incredibly tax cuts - have not stepped forward with innovation and investment. The government spending will inevitably create inefficiencies in capital allocation, but wealthy people stuffing banks in Geneva and the Caymans is a far worse use of capital.

Now that the Federal Reserve has brought its program of quantitative easing to a successful conclusion

Successful for some people. Horrific for others. Essentially currency debasement, aka quantitative easing, is stealing money from savers to cover the losses of speculators and reckless bankers.

Yeah, some people come out a head when you take from one group and give to another. But the group your taking from is worse off. Think about all the savers who have been denied home ownership despite being financially responsible and saving for decades for a house. These aren't greedy rich people -- they can avoid the ill effects of currency debasement. These are the hardest working, highest tax paying, least tax consuming people. These are the kind of people you want everyone in your economy to be. And they are exactly the people who are fucked over by currency debasement.

Wouldn't it be a more socially just, responsible, and wiser policy to take purchasing power away from the greedy, reckless bankers and speculators who caused all the problems in the first place rather than from the least greedy, least destructive, and more productive members of society?

The group getting screwed over is the group most deserving of retaining their wealth and the groups getting the handouts are the most guilty of all.

People behave according to the incentives forced on them by government. Quantitative easing is the government's way of punishing responsible behavior and rewarding greedy, destructive behavior and financial fraud. Ultimately, government will get more of what it incentives, greed and fraud, and less of what it punishes, saving and working hard in productive fields.

And government laments that a third of Americans have nothing saved for retirement and wonders why Social Security is necessary.

CL says

Keynes was right

How far can a Kenyan Keynesian Kick the can?

What was successful about it?

I must be in freaking la-la land.