On Aug 17, 2011, at 11:15 AM, Jim Devine wrote:
... In the US, however, Keynesianism has been military
in its emphasis _in practice_, since military spending is politically
more acceptable than civilian spending. (In the "Golden Age" of US
Keynesianism, building the transcontinental freeway system was
justified in terms of military goals, while much of the era's policies
relied on the GI Bill.)... In Western Europe, under social democracy,
Keynesian policy was less military in its emphasis.
But in that period (from Bretton Woods through the 1950's at least)
Keynes and his ideas were totally out of favor among politicians.
Neither Truman nor Eisenhower had any time for Keynes. The entirely
civilian Interstate Highway System was "sold" to congressional idiots
as "defensive" but it obviously had no significance to the US's
totally offensive military posture based on air/space power and
forward foreign deployment. And the GI Bill (perhaps the best law
Congress ever passed) was a completely civilian program, benefiting
veterans of the past war but *not* those to be conscripted for future
wars. If there was a "keynesian" period in US politics it began with
Kennedy and ended with Nixon. Before and after they were all overt
"Balanced Budget" fetishists (whatever their fiscal record in practice).
Shane Mage
"scientific discovery is basically recognition of obvious realities
that self-interest or ideology have kept everybody from paying
attention to"
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