Survey Says: Keynes Is Dead

In 2008 Americans could not get enough of John Maynard Keynes. As the economy tanked, the long-dead 20th-century British economist emerged as one of the most popular men in recession- haunted Washington. Keynesian stimulus spendingâ??massive infusions of cash from the federal government for infrastructure programs, weatherizing, green energy, education, and anything else that came to mindâ??was going to prevent job losses and get the economy working again. More than $500 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending later, unemployment sits at an intractable 9.1 percent, the labor-force participation rate is the lowest since 1983, and the economic prognosis remains bleak.