Keynesians and statists (who might or might not have any familiarity with Keynes and his theories) often say that the reason why the economy has not been robust for years is that the wealthy aren’t spending enough. In the lingo, we suffer from inadequate aggregate demand. Solution: have the government spend more to “stimulate” the economy.

In this article, economics professor Richard Ebeling replies that more government spending and redistribution is never going to solve the problem of sluggish economic growth. In fact, it is previous spending and redistribution that has given us the malaise of weak growth. More of that is like trying to cure a hangover with more booze.