This excerpt originally appeared in The Detriot News on June 5, 2012.

June 5 marks the 129th birthday of John Maynard Keynes, the brilliant 20th century economist whose theories are behind the worst excesses of 21st century government spending. Thanks to Keynes, many policymakers and pundits now believe that the key to our economic recovery is simply for government to spend more until consumers eventually do the same.