“
Everyone is going to be cautious about spending for a long time from now on, Keynes or no Keynes. The velocity of money slows as everyone starts to hoard, and GDP declines despite an increase in money supply. One way to fix this is to charge a fee for saving your money, i.e. negative interest, or high inflation, use it or you lose it, but that’s fearful velocity, not confident velocity. Another is lower taxes, putting more money permanently in people’s pockets, but that leaves less for government spending initially, and has no effect on the unemployed. A third is a charismatic confidence-inspiring leadership, but think Germany in the Thirties. I’m a little stymied for now, and so, I sense, is everyone else. There’s no quick fix and no substitute for good fresh wise leadership.
