False Profits

SIX

Real Stimulus: Progressive Programs to Boost the Economy

The country having to endure long periods of high unemployment is wholly unnecessary for the simple reason that we know how to prevent it. Ever since Keynes, we understood that high unemployment, as occurred in the Great Depression or what we are experiencing in the housing crash recession, is caused by a lack of demand in the economy. The way to address high unemployment is to create demand. In other words, the answer was and still is to throw money at the problem.

That solution is not meant facetiously. Typically, we think that the economy's ability to meet the needs of the nation ...