Monday, March 01, 2010

Cardboard Cutouts

clipped from www.dailykos.com

Keynes and Hayek are the archetypes of two very different schools of economic thought. Keynes was a leading proponent of interventionist government policies. His ideas influenced, and often drove, economic policies in Western nations from WW II through the late ‘70s. In 1942, for his service to Britain, he was elevated to the peerage and become the First Baron of Tilton.

Hayek was the leading voice for free markets and against collectivism.

Two brilliant thinkers who suffered the two worst fates for public intellectuals. Hayek’s forgotten. His ideas are largely ignored by policy makers and lampooned by pundits. Keynes has been reduced to a cartoon, hauled out by politicians every time the economy noses down.

The world would be a richer place, literally, if we paid attention to the real men. Not the cardboard cutouts we have today.

It isn't often that I send you to Kos for a RTWT. And jaw droppingly, Hayek is durrently winning the poll 713 to 26! I think that's because the Kossacks won't read it and Glenn linked it of course.