Raistlin

Over a year ago, a bunch of economists and grad students made this music video about what causes recessions: too-free businesses (Keynes) or central planning of the market (Hayek). It was brilliant, and displayed both sides very well in a fun way.

Just yesterday they released Round Two, which is also great. I don't think Hayek made as many brutal points as he did in the first one, but the ending is completely accurate in its analogy to real life: Hayek's argument destroys Keynesian pseudo-philosophy, but Keynes "wins" in that everyone flocks to him. The only people paying attention to Hayek are actual econ students who actually know what's going on. This was also shown in the first part a bit, with Keynes's line "say it loud and say it proud, we're all Keynesians now." Sadly, it is true.

If you couldn't tell, Hayek is right and Keynes is wrong. Yet all of the governments in the developed world follow Keynesian economics, which allow the government and the "cronies" (as Hayek called the people at the top of the economic food chain) to keep all the money and power. I particularly love Hayek's second verse in the original video, where he explains the cycle of booms and busts in entertaining fashion, and then concluding: "Your so-called stimulus will make things worse / Just more of the same, more incentives perverse."

Go watch.

Background info:
John Maynard Keynes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friedrich Hayek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia