Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Fear the Boom and Bust — rappin’ with Hayek and Keynes
Fear the Boom and Bust — rappin’ with Hayek and Keynes
Jul 5, 2026 1:04 AM

From Econstories.tv: In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th e back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it.

Lyrics sample (written by John Papola and Russ Roberts):

We’ve been going back and forth for a century

[Keynes] I want to steer markets,

[Hayek] I want them set free

There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it

[Hayek] Blame low interest rates.

[Keynes] No… it’s the animal spirits

[Keynes Sings:]

John Maynard Keynes, wrote the book on modern macro

The man you need when the economy’s off track, [whoa]

Depression, recession now your question’s in session

Have a seat and I’ll school you in one simple lesson

BOOM, 1929 the big crash

We didn’t bounce back—economy’s in the trash

Persistent unemployment, the result of sticky wages

Waiting for recovery? Seriously? That’s outrageous!

more here.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The Hidden Tithe
Recently I got a phone call from an engineering manager I’ve known for over ten years. He informed me that he’d been laid off last spring, but before I could offer condolences he added that he’d been hired by pany in the same industry for a consulting assignment. That temporary work had lasted over six months but was winding down. He hadn’t been a contract “consultant” before and after some additional small talk told me, “… and I’ve discovered something...
Public schools flunk the test on black males
My latest mentary: Do at-risk black males need to be emancipated en masse from America’s public plex? A new study released about high school dropout and incarceration rates among blacks raises the question. Nearly 23 percent of all American black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution, according to a new report from the Center for Labor Markets at Northeastern University, “Consequences of Dropping Out of...
What is a Christian to think about health care?
Brad Green, who teaches theology at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., published mentary on health care in The Jackson Sun. Green, an alum of Acton’s Toward a Free and Virtuous Society program, is also a co-founder of Augustine School in Jackson. So, what would Jesus do? Jesus would (and mand people to repent of their sins, care for the poor, the sick, the lame and the down-trodden. And Christians manded to do the same. But is a Christian then obligated...
Machiavelli, the Prince, and the Tradition of Liberty
Machiavelli’s succinct and semi-diabolical advice to the prince is one of the most enduring works of political philosophy in the world. This man, writing in a time roughly contemporaneous with the Reformation, was less concerned with seeking the will of God than with winning at all costs. I wrote about him in my book The End of Secularism. He is famous for advising the prince that it is important to appear honest, humane, religious, faithful, and charitable, but that it...
Finding the Right Charity
The Dave Ramsey Show appears on Fox Business Network and is also available for live streaming via Hulu. In last Thursday’s episode (at about the 18:00 mark), a Twitter follower of @ramseyshow asked, “I want to start giving. How do I find the right charity for me and how do I find out if the charity is legit?” Dave’s short answer: “You have to spend time on it.” He expands a bit, but that’s a great starting point. You need...
Recommended Post-Reformation Day Reading
In connection with the worldwide celebrations of the quincentenary of John Calvin’s birth in 2009, the Acton Institute BookShoppe recently made available a limited stock of the hard-to-find Light for the City: Calvin’s Preaching, Source of Life and Liberty (Eerdmans, 2004). In this brief and accessible work, Lester DeKoster examines the interaction between the Word proclaimed and the development of Western civilization. “Preached from off the pulpits for which the Church is divinely made and sustained, God’s biblical Word takes...
Earned Success = Happiness
David Bahnsen reflects on last night’s annual dinner: (Acton’s) co-founder, Father Sirico, is a friend and patriot. He is a scholar in Catholic social thought, and perhaps as good of an orator as I have ever heard. He and I shared the podium at an event I did in Newport Beach earlier in the year. Fortunately for me, I spoke before him that evening! The talk tonight was challenging and inspiring. He reminded us that the greatest victim in this...
The Market, School of Virtue
This week’s Acton Commentary: Does the market inspire people to greater practical virtue, or does it eviscerate what little virtue any of us have? Far from draining moral goodness out of us—as many think—the free market serves as a “school of the practical virtues.” Rather than elevating greed and self-sufficiency, the market fosters interdependence and cooperation. Its rewards do not go to those who are the most isolated, self-absorbed, or cut off from society, but to those who sustain mutually...
Critiquing Fair Trade and Dead Aid
Cardus’ Robert Joustra rightly pillories “fair trade” along with the logic of foreign aid in a challenging article, “Fair Trade and Dead Aid: ‘My Voice Can’t Compete with an Electric Guitar.'” Joustra’s point of departure is sound: “The aid model is not working, and no large-scale cash infusion or debt forgiveness scheme is going to make it suddenly start working. The fair trade brand is too small-scale and ultimately regressive.” Unfortunately, though, Joustra’s well-placed critique of the fair trade movement...
Green Patriarch’s ‘web of life’ has a gaping hole in it
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I offered mentary related to his recently closed environmental symposium in New Orleans. He said this: For if all life is sacred, so is the entire web that sustains it … no one doubts that there is a connection and balance among all things animate and inanimate on this third planet from the Sun, and that there is a cost or benefit whenever we tamper with that balance. Words pleasing to the...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved