We ain’t all Keynesians yet
Re: Stimulating, letter to the editor, Jan. 22. Letter- writer Mahmood Elahi is wrong in stating that former U.S. president George W. Bush originated the statement, “We are all Keynesians now.” The original quote goes back to 1965, when economist Milton Friedman originated it and also claimed that in another sense, we are not all Keynesians now. It was picked up by former U. S. president Richard Nixon around the time when he pulled the rug on the gold standard and the Bretton Woods agreement. Friedman was a critic of these moves, as all sensible people should be.
Indeed, it was governments of all stripes here and around the world that mismanaged their deficit spending, which has put Canada and many other countries in the economic mess we find ourselves in now. Where was the effort to pay back the deficit in times of plenty, as Keynes advocated? Infrastructure is the new buzz word for getting things going again, but who neglected it in the first place? Government. Who helped the oil industry in Canada, which Elahi says that many Canadians were so foolish to invest in? Government. These are the same governments that will want equalization payments from the likes of Alberta and Saskatchewan, but as Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall recently pointed out, it is now time for the east to give money to the West. Quebec and Ontario won’t like that.
Leigh U. Smith, Burnaby, B. C.