Tom, hearing Alice Rivlin’s exhortation to spend, spend, spend once again reminds me of just how intellectually bankrupt Keynesian economics (sic) really is. I remember in grad school doing all of these supposed sophisticated mathematical Keynesian models, complete with IS-LM, the Balanced Budget Multiplier, the Multiplier, and Lord knows what else.

Yet, in the end, what we had was a very crude rendition of “spend yourself rich.” These economists believe themselves to be as sophisticated as their models, yet they are hacks, utter hacks. Yeah, we spend ourselves rich. Right.