August 23, 2009

Cognitive Dissonance: A Case Study

By Randall Hoven
You know you are in for a treat when you read a letter to the editor and its first sentence includes the words "when I was a student at Harvard."  Such was the case with Scott Richard Evans' letter to the Financial Times of August 13.  Mr. Evans criticized a previously published article written by Professor Niall Ferguson.  The issue was the recession and President Obama's cure by massive government spending.  Mr. Evans said this,"As a professor of business, Prof Fergusn must know at least some basic Keynesian economics - government spending to replace collapsing private spending is the only way to replace macroeconomic demand in a recession."I think, if translated into English, that statement means that not only is massive government spending a cure for a recession, it is the only cure.OK so far.  I guess you can believe that.  I confess to not having read Keynes.  I have merely looked at the 11 recessions since World War II, as...(Read Full Article)