Macro-Economic Follies

Every year, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we hear the mainstream media tell us how important consumer spending is for our economy – after all consumer spending is 70% of our economy. So by that logic, consumption is good and savings must be bad, right? Well maybe if you’re a Keynesian economist. But if you follow Adam Smith or Hayek, you believe that increased productivity leads to more wealth. Forced spending just leads to improper allocation of resources. Here’s a fun explanation, in tune with the Christmas spirit:   [embedplusvideo height=”370″ width=”608″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/7uKnd6IEiO0?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=7uKnd6IEiO0&width=608&height=370&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=0&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep4924″ /]   You can read …