. People tend to think of Keynsianism as tax-and-spend. Not quite correct. During recessions, he advocated deficits and tax cuts to push up aggregate demand and boost the economy. Once good times returned, and inflation returned, Keynes said that the govt must run surpluses and raise taxes to reign in demand, lower inflation, and slow the economy. Over one complete business cycle, the books would be balanced. In fairness to Keyes, govts only took half of his advice. Well, in fairness to Marx, he believed Communism would lead to a wasting away of the State.
Fat chance. This is *politics* and what matters is the results not the intentions.
Furthermore, I suspect Keynes knew the second half of his plan would be unworkable.
