- Barney Frank Proving That He's Learned Nothing From The Great Depression

Keynesian Economics is based on the idea that things would be better for everyone if the government takes money away from those people who have earned it and spends for them, instead of letting them decide how to spend it themselves. It's based on the incorrect assumption that government knows better what people want to do with their money than they do. Keynes was a brilliant man in many small ways but it was his policies adopted by the Roosevelt administration that made the great depression so tragic. And now Barney Frank wants to do that all over again.

If the people who earned the money get to spend it, that money will be used to reward the most productive behavior. Companies that are innovative or well run will get more investment than those that are not, and the result will be a higher standard of living for everyone along with more jobs and better pay. But if the government gets to spend it, it will be given to everyone, both productive and unproductive. The people who behave the worst will be just as entitled to the money as someone who behaved better ... in fact they'll be entitled to more if the history of the Democrat party is any indicator.

And that will make every one's lives worse because not only will the money be squandered, but we'll also lose all the good things that could have been done with it as well. The jobs that could have been created if the money was invested well will instead be lost, the businesses that should have prospered will fail, and all we'll have to show for it is more government dependency and a weaker economy.

We're headed for an slowdown right now. But if we let economic imbeciles like this guy dictate policy then we are going to turn a slowdown into a tragedy... all over again.