Bruce Littleboy and Steve Kates quote John Cochrane:

2.
"Robert Barro's Ricardian equivalence theorem was
one nail in the coffin (of Keynesianism). (snip)."


I see Barro-ism playing a different role. It gave the Friedmanites a new way
to rationalize deficit finance for the rightwing Republicans, so they could
run up our present national debt of ca. $10 trillions (+/- 20%, depending on
who's counting, and why). It was not a nail in the coffin of Keynes, but a
reincarnation of Keynes free of his New Deal associations. Friedman bought
into it hook, line and sinker, and went a step further rationalizing the
other "twin deficit", our import balance.  It just shows we have a
comparative advantage in exporting bonds, wrote the great tautologist and
verbal prestidigitator. Would that he were here today to pay off the
national debt he helped run up to heights Keynes never dreamed of.

Mason Gaffney