It's all good. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, right?Dom wrote:I would completely disagree for a number of reasons. None of which are relevant to a Mafia game, but most of which have to do with how that is completely incorrect.G-Man wrote:I'm in! This is an intriguing setup and I like economics, so I will probably enjoy this quite a bit. Plus, I've been getting twitchy since I died in LMS3.
Dom, whoever indoctrinated you into thinking Keynesian economic theory is good was a bad, bad person. His economic philosophy (especially the way it's been improperly and incompletely implemented) is precisely the reason that the global economy is in its current, shaky state. Yes, in the long run, Keynes and his generation is dead. But after three or four generations of Keynesian practice, our generation is left footing the bill for all the excess spending. FDR's admiration for and adoption of Keynesian economics is arguably the main reason the Great Depression lasted so long. It stagnated recovery. </rant>
I just find the way Keynesian theory has been implemented dangerously short-sighted. Everyone latches onto the government spending during recession aspect of it but more or less leaves out the other 75% of it (cutting taxes in recession, raising taxes when we're out of recession, cutting government spending when we're out of recession). I don't think it's ever been put into practice the way Keynes actually envisioned it. It might have a chance of working but we'll never find out because too many politicians won't get re-elected if they raise taxes or cut government spending.
Imagine if we took the "In the long run, we're all dead" approach to things like pollution, over-harvesting the seas, and consumption of fossil fuels. Oh wait... :P