? the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and acolytes such as John Kenneth Galbraith return to the center of public policy debate. Galbraith?s son James is leading the charge, as Fortune tells us:
The conventional wisdom about economics is up for grabs right now. We’re not speaking here of the conventional wisdom in the economics profession – that moves pretty slowly, and is anyway less wedded to a caricature of infallibly rational markets than most people think. We mean the assumptions that lawmakers, businesspeople, journalists, and educated voters use when they talk about economic problems. Ideas that had been banished to the dustbin are suddenly back on the table, and last year’s gadflies now seem as if they were ahead of the curve. Exhibit A: James K. Galbraith, go-to economist of Nation magazine-style liberalism, unabashed market skeptic, and rock-ribbed Keynesian since before Keynesianism was cool (again).
“Events have moved me to the center – I have not moved,” says Galbraith, sipping coffee in his University of Texas office, which overlooks the presidential library of Lyndon B. Johnson, architect of the Great Society. It’s December, and Galbraith has just returned from Washington, D.C., where he was one of five economists speaking in a closed-door session for House Democrats. In step with a former John McCain campaign advisor and a Clinton administration economist, he argued for a very, very big stimulus package.
To get a sense of what?s wrong with Galbraith?s arguments, click here, here, or here.
