2.04.2009

The New Republic

John B. Judis, "A Man for All Seasons", The New Republic, 02.04.2009, 22.

Public investment in a new hospital, say, creates jobs and income not only for construction workers, but for the people and businesses that service the workers. Conservatives and big business, however, have objected to public investment - for instance, in high-speed rail or solar paneling - that would strengthen government's hand in dealing with an industry or compete with private industry. It's socialism, they say - and, in Keynes's terms, it is.

Next on the list of Keynesian tools are government programs that redistribute income from the well-to-do (who have the least propensity to consume) to the poor (who have the most). As John McCain demonstrated during the presidential campaign, such redistributionist programs can also easily be denounced as socialism.
...
The bulk of income tax cuts usually don't accrue to the people with the highest propensity to consume.

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