My colleague at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University Russ Roberts and his co-producer John Papola just released their second Hayek–Keynes rap video. The fight today is about stimulus spending. The music and lyrics are wonderful. The whole thing is truly phenomenal and very educational, not to mention clever. Who said economics couldn’t be fun!
And remember, as Hayek says/raps, “Spending isn’t free, that’s the heart of the matter,” and “The economy is us, / We don’t need a mechanic. / Put away the wrenches, / The economy’s organic.”
I was watching Frontline, The Warning on Netflix last night. It basically painted Alan Greenspan as a salon flunkie of Ayn Rand, who along with Bob Rubin and Larry Summers (and Tim Geitner) as promoting laizee fair capitalism with derivatives and the sole voice of reason being Brooksley Born (who they marginalized and ignored).
The underlying theme was Greenspan, Rubin and Summers were the Austrians and Born was the Keyensian. As if being a Keyensian would have avoided the crisis. I seriously doubt that. Plus, is warning about the danger of derivatives Austrian or Keyensian?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI preferred the video to Frontline!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Full employment, and nothing to eat." Perfect.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Give us a chance
so we can discover
the most valuable ways
we can serve one another."
/chills
Brilliant video, thanks for posting it!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI prefer a root cannal to Frontline.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI could "veg out" (my captcha!) in front of that video all day. So many subtle images in the video- from Say and Mises escorting Hayek into the room (Malthus escorting Keynes) to the end where the media and bigwigs are back slapping with Keynes while the kids and patriots fawn over Hayek.
Posted to my facebook account, where I hope my young nephews and nieces see it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI especially liked the "Fed Chairman," who looked strikingly like the real deal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf Roberts and Papola want to get out the Hayek economic message, for goodness sakes, stop doing it in "rap!" You couldn't pay me to listen to ten minutes of "rap," and I'll bet there are tens of millions of other people who would never listen to it either.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFind the lyrics here: External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Bernank!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWow, they knocked it out of the park. Better than the first one.
I like the way they used to boxing imagery to give meta-information about the competing theories. Though I thought the real knockout blow was "Full employment, and nothing to eat."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSensational! A great way to educate people on economics. Economics shouldn't be boring - it's the so-called elites and keynesian socialists that make it so. Austrian free markets is exciting and the future!
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