Working for Pharaoh.

Who gets wealthy under these [public works] schemes? Not those who are cursed to find the rocks and drag them across the desert, and pile them higher and higher so that the pharaoh could have a fancy palace to die in. These poor slobs wasted their lives serving a dictator. And so it is for us today: the rock draggers and stone pilers are the taxpayers, the people looted through taxes and inflation.

* * * *

When asked to give historical evidence of the alleged success of their approach, [Keynesians] point to awful economies — such as the United States between 1934 and 1936, or in our times after TARP and the Obama stimulus package — and merely claim, without possible proof, that the economies would have been even more awful without such intervention.

The Keynesians can call it conjectural history if they want. It is still fantasy to believe that any economic good can come from unleashing Leviathan to steal from some to give to others.

The above is the main point of this post. Dumbass government as looter and predator, pretty it up how you will.

Be that as it may, also note the witty buildup of a web debate this evening presented through the auspices of the Mises Academy. Mr. Murphy, author of the above, has challenged UNC prof Karl Smith to a debate on Keynesianism tonight -- the "Econ Cage Match of DEATH" – at 1800 hrs. Eastern whatever.

Prof. Smith predicts watchers will witness "a final resolution to the Manichean struggle that has gripped mankind since time before time."

It's a web debate. $20 per. Details at link:

"No Mercy for the Party of Stimulus." By Robert Murphy, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 9/2/11.