More Keynesian than Keynes was – and more wrong than right this time

``For Keynesians, aggressive deficit reduction will simply send the UK economy back into recession. Indeed, they worry that any attempt to reduce the deficit on the scale proposed... will ultimately be self-defeating: another recession would leave the Government both short of revenue and with a bigger bill for unemployment benefit, thereby making the deficit bigger, not smaller. Instead, they suggest the UK should wait for a vibrant recovery to come through before taking the axe to the deficit. Such is their optimism that they doubtless rather hope that, in the event of a recovery, the axe would never have to be used at all: a strong cyclical rebound would automatically boost tax revenues, removing the need for the surgeon's knife. It is, if you like, money for free.''