PREVIEW

Where Keynes Went Wrong: And Why World Governments Keep Creating Inflation, Bubbles, and Busts (Book/ Hardcover)

Product Overview

John Maynard Keynes died in 1946, but his thinking continues to dominate world economic policy. Bushonomics, Obamanomics, and the policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve have all ultimately been derived from Keynes's book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, usually referred to as Keynes's General Theory or The General Theory.

What does Keynesian economics tell us about the Crash of 2008? First that crashes are an inevitable part of Capitalism—they reflect what Keynes called the "animal spirits" of private markets. Second that the Crash creates a downward spiral that feeds on itself. If Keynesian remedies are not promptly applied, there may be no economic recovery. These remedies, the essence of Keynesianism, include the U.S. Federal Reserve printing money and lowering interest rates, bailouts, and economic stimulus through deficit spending.

Where Keynes Went Wrong demystifies Keynesian economics. It reveals what John Maynard Keynes really said. And it offers a startling and persuasive argument that Keynesianism is leading us down a path not to genuine economic recovery, but to inflation, bubbles, and crashes.

More about Where Keynes Went Wrong

When the world financial system failed in 2008, world governments intervened decisively. Guided by Keynesian economics teams with impeccable credentials, they intended not only to "stimulate" the economy, but to "jolt" it back to borrowing and spending as usual. All of these actions were taken from a playbook devised by British economist John Maynard Keynes, author of The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money and by far the most influential social thinker of the past century.

But . . . not all economists agree. Following the Crash of 2008, some critics of Keynesianism ask: Isn’t the root problem that Americans have borrowed too much? Will even more borrowing, this time government borrowing to support deficit spending, really help us out of the bind we are in?

Is it right to borrow to finance bank bailouts? Will economic stimulus—also financed by government deficits—really help? Should the Federal Reserve be printing money so rapidly? Will this give us a genuine economic recovery? Can we really rescue Capitalism by trying to borrow and spend our way out of debt?

Also: are private markets really to blame for the Crash of 2008? Wasn’t government even more responsible? If so, can we expect government to fix the problem?

In short, should we be relying so completely on Keynes? What if he is wrong? What evidence is there that he is right?

These are important questions. If Keynes is wrong, then so are the economic policies of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and virtually all world governments today. Instead of giving us a sustainable economic recovery, they will just lead to inflation, bubbles, and crashes.

Where Keynes Went Wrong presents the economic arguments that will shape our future in a lively, stimulating, and transparently clear style.

Who is this book for?
Where Keynes Went Wrong is written in a clear and accessible style. Anyone can read it. You do not need any prior education in economics.

Libertarians, followers of the Austrian School of Economics, readers of economist Ludwig von Mises and economic thinker and commentator Henry Hazlitt, and fans of congressman Ron Paul will be immediately drawn to its critique of Keynesianism and of government economic intervention in general. But Lewis makes clear this is not a politically partisan book—just the opposite. It faults both George W. Bush and Barrack Obama, in Republicans and in Democrats.

Lewis makes clear here and in other writings that the primary goal of economics should be to end world poverty and to do so in a way that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. In his view, Keynesian policies are not helping the poor, indeed are making matters much worse for them, and this point of view drives his critique of current economic policies.

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