Dear Sirs:
Judging by the proposals in his April 1 column titled “Economic confessions from a Keynesian heretic”, UCLA’s Roger Farmer is in no danger of being burned at the stake by his fellow interventionists. He wants a “further increase in equity prices, engineered by government”, because “households spend more when they feel wealthy” and, as all good Keynesians know, “we need to increase demand” in order to “produce more consumer goods”. This is just about as pure Keynesian orthodoxy as you will find; i.e., spend ourselves into prosperity through government interventions of one sort or another. Why don’t we try something really radical, such as saving and living within our means? Oh, I see the problem…that really would get a tenured college professor burned at the stake!
Patrick Barron
