You’re probably surprised by the title of this post. You may even be wondering if President Obama had an epiphany on the road to Greece?
I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but the leader we’re talking about isn’t the President of the United States.
Instead, we’re talking about the Prime Minister of Finland and he deserves praise and recognition for providing one of the most insightful and profound statements ever uttered by a politician.
He explained that the emperor of Keynesian economics has no clothes.
As reported by Le Monde (and translated by Open Europe), here’s what Alexander Stubb said when asked whether European governments should try to “stimulate” their economies with more spending.
We need to put an end to illusions: it’s not the public sector that creates jobs. To believe that injecting billions of euros [into the economy] is the key to growth is an idea of the past.
Amen.
You don’t make a nation richer by taking money from one pocket and putting it in another pocket.
Particularly when the net effect is to redistribute funds from the productive sector to the government.
I’m glad Mr. Stubb has figured this out. I just with some American politicians would look at the evidence and reach similarly wise conclusions.
The Obama Administration, for instance, still wants us to believe the faux stimulus was a success.
P.S. Other European policy makers have admitted that Keynesian economics is a farce.
P.P.S. Finland has the world’s 7th-freest economy, significantly better than the United States.
