I was disgusted again today when market fundamentalist Amity Schlaes got a seat on the APM Marketplace broadcast. It was equivalent to a Neocon talking about the Iraq invasion. Events have so exploded their flimsy ideology that they are reduced to making things up. In this case it was,
"Consumers rule the economic world. That idea comes from the father of modern economics, John Maynard Keynes. If consumers are grumpy, markets get sour. Politicians monitor consumers like hawks. And recovery? It's all about the consumer too. If the consumer is unhappy, the recovery won't come."
This is not only nonsense, it is condescending. But mostly it is nonsense. Aside from the consumer, there is the public sector. I believe the public sector is acting to produce recovery. So today I offer Ms. Schlaes a quick "Pundit's Guide to Keynes."