Facing the 60s Music

Robert Samuelson explains that our government finance problems started in the 60s with the Keynesian disregard for the danger of debt and high deficits.

The blunder of the Sixties has had a long afterlife. Economic policy is trapped between weak demand and the fears of too much debt. Yesterday's Keynesians undercut today's Keynesians. "In the long run we are all dead," Keynes said. But others are alive -- and suffer from bad decisions made decades ago.