re: The fetish of full employment- Henry Hazlitt vs. Ezra Klein

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its failures are a failure of applying it correctly,

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of course. one of the 2 arguments for the failure of government: (1) we didn't use enough money or (2) it wasn't implemented correctly

if you want to see why keneysian economics fails, just look at california in 2007-2008 and how it handled it's public unions. in a time of economic prosperity, it was supposed to cut government spending, right? what did it do? increased public spending, so that public workers could "compete" with the free market's wages, benefits, etc.

not only did this ignore keynes, but it also creates a double-fricking once the cool off happens, as the public is left with new public obligations, only born out of a temporary increase in economic activity.

while in the objective and in hindsight, california looks ridiculous, due to the very nature of politics, it was SOP during that time period

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But keynsian economics has 70 years of working for us. its failures are a failure of applying it correctly, more so than the theory itself.

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Not really. The only reason it "works" is because all governments like to spend as much as possible. Keynsian thinking legitimizes spending more than your citizenry will pay in taxes. It is a form of involuntary taxation.