Historian Robert Higgs writes here that the history of federal efforts at stimulating the economy after a boom turns into a bust has been one of dismal failure, starting with Hoover and continuing on to the present. The Keynesian policy of trying to manipulate “aggregate demand” just leads to wasted resources and a prolonged recession. Why do leftists keep defending that absurd policy? Perhaps because abandoning it would be to admit that the government can be the problem rather than the solution? Better millions of unemployed people than to give up on a core belief.