Hip Hop Rematch: F.A. Hayek vs. J.M. Keynes

Hayek and Keynes have shot their second rap video, covering topics ranging from regulating Wall Street to whether World War II ended the Depression:

If you missed the first Hayek/Keynes rap, you can watch it here.

Comments

[rather]

I'm so glad that this video didn't perpetuate stereotypes about women

[Bradley]

Your entire persona perpetuates a stereotype of women as crazy bitches who won't shut up, so you're hardly one to complain.

[Citizen Nothing]

He he.

[Craiglist serial killer]

Bradley, your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Max]

Is John Birch a libertarian hero?

[Citizen Nothing]

Is Joe McCarthy a leftist one?

[Joshua Corning]

You forgot to mention regressive racists Wilson and FDR.

[Ted Kaczynski]

I had a point!

[Citizen Nothing]

After a second watch, HVK2 has really grown on me.
Good stuff.

[Nicholas Sarwark]

Nice cameo by Mike Munger as the security guard.

[zoltan]

I didn't recognize him without his flowing locks.

[proudlibitard]

Munger's awesome!

[GSL]

Love it.

[Cortillaen]

It's the War of the Mustaches!

Seriously, though, this puts forth one of my favorite arguments against governmental intervention in the economy starting at 5:05. An economy is composed of all the people within. Trying to manipulate the economy is like trying to perform brain surgery - only this brain displays at least an order of magnitude more complexity, the cells function several orders of magnitude higher and can totally rearrange their structure at will, and the operating room is open air in the middle of a storm.

[Paul]

Shhh..shhhhhh. We're making a better world.

[yonemoto]

I really like how it makes the point that keynesianism is an elitist economics and hayek is a "people power" economics. Not that the left will listen, they're pretty happy patting themselves on the back for being smart (like Max, Tony).

[JW]

I'll have to be the hater. I liked the economy of the first effort over the forced grandeur of this one. And I could have easily done without the chorus; it just made it drag.

Still, it's an effective tool, presuming your audience can stay tuned in for all 10 minutes.

[Lurker]

I liked it for the raps. The long start and long chorus felt long. But I liked it.

But I do prefer a quicker pace.

[ClubMedSux]

Seriously... ten minutes? That's longer than those crappy tracks rappers tack on to the end of their albums where they just name-check everybody (since I guess nobody reads liner notes any more).

[Citizen Nothing]

If they had to tighten, they could have easily cut a lot of the intro with the security guard -- the opening seemed very slow, but it quickly picked up steam.

[Robert]

But that part was hilarious! Except I didn't get the part with the first guy with the electric arc.

[MB]

The 'electric arc' is Keynes and Hayak showing up. Same thing was done in the original.

[deified]

I couldn't have said it better.

Let me just repeat, for emphasis, how much the chorus sucks.

[Citizen Nothing]

Sorry, haters. I thought the chorus was awesome. True story.

[Citizen Nothing]

The catchy chorus is going to draw in a lot of repeat viewers.

[JW]

I view this one as I did Matrix: Reloaded. Bigger and flashier does not equal gooder.

[yonemoto]

chorus sucked, slow beginning. The main text was better than the first.

[cynical]

I agree. With the chorus and a little more autotune, you probably have a top 40 hit on your hands. I mean, musically speaking, it's better than Ke$ha.

[JimBob]

"...it's better than Ke$ha."

So is pounding railroad spikes through my genitalia. You want to set a higher standard, here?

[cynical]

I agree. With the chorus and a little more autotune, you probably have a top 40 hit on your hands. I mean, musically speaking, it's better than Ke$ha.

[question]

I'm going to risk starting a flame war here and ask: Didn't Keynes only view deficits as a solution to extreme crises, not as a permanent phenomenon in the macro-economy?

[Sudden]

Yes. Keynes would admittedly be a bit concerned with the way his theories are being used to essentially dismiss the threat of structural deficits today. Keynes would've supported the stimulus spending to a large degree (although might've actually had qualms with so much of it going directly to states for teacher's unions, he would've condoned the infrastructure improvements), but he would likely be arguing for the need to get the structural deficits under control immediately.

[yonemoto]

The elites will maintain a permanent crisis so that they can uses their solution perpetually. Didn't you read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine:Rise of Disaster Capitalism?

[MB]

Yeah, but she didn't claim the elites would use it to cram down keynesianism, but friedmanite free market economics.

[BoscoH]

Didn't she write that after she wasn't kinda hot anymore?

[ClubMedSux]

Speaking of hip-hop, I was disappointed, though not surprised, to learn that the Roots performed a fundraising concert for Obama yesterday. When it comes to rap and politics, I'm more inclined to side with Lupe Fiasco.

[VoteMuslimNoPork]

Most rappers who are political today are often libs and truthers ...

[cynical]

Truthers? Why are rappers so paranoid? Hmmm...

Nope, can't think of any reason for it.

[VoteMuslimNoPork]

Honestly, I think the whole 9/11 thing is considered a "proven" fact in the majority of the rap world ... fuck, even Eminem dropped a truther song back in like 2003 ... AND it was his lead single.

[Rock Action]

The guy who wrote American Terrorist...hmmm...
Wait, just listened to the song in controversy. At about :45 in, there's something about an excuse to use bullets followed by...

"9-11/good incentive/did they really pull it?"

Sounds like he's flanking Obama on the very fringe left, man.

[yeltsin]

mp3?

[yeltsin]

Econstories now have it uploaded.

http://econstories.tv/uploads/.....entury.mp3

[yonemoto]

not sure why malthus is one of Keynes' attendants. Being Malthusian is a compatible theory with Hayekianism.

[yonemoto]

... and malthusianism is AFAICT incompatible with keynesianism.

[cavalier973]

http://www.economictheories.or.....ories.html

"In his essay on Malthus, Keynes praises Malthus's understanding of an economy's difficulties in maintaining full employment, quoting letters from Malthus to Ricardo 'to show Malthus's complete comprehension of the effects of excessive saving on output via its effects on profit.'"

[yonemoto]

I see. So Malthusianism planted the seed of the "paradox of thrift" in Keynes (actually bandied about since antiquity). The central question of Austrianism is "what is the best way to make use of the limited amount of material that the world provides to us" so I would have thought that it's more Hayekian.

[heller]

How did they get that footage of Bernanke?

[BigBob]

Hidden cameras at TARP meetings?

[Robert]

I thought this was their 3rd. Maybe the 1st seemed like 2, with its making-of portion.

I thought it odd that Keynes was taking advice from Malthus.

[Sean]

I think the second one you're thinking of was their live performance at the buttonwood gathering. It was about 70% reused material from the first video but I think it had a few lines from this video as well.

[Ayn R. Key]

Overall a good video. I thought the tune wasn't as catchy, nor the refrain, but the lyrics did flow better.

The text is more related to current events than the more abstract theory of the first one. The imagery of who the ref declares the winner of the boxing match is also spot on, just like the imagery of the party and hangover of the previous video.

One thing I still want to see is for EconStories to do a similar video comparing Hayek (or similar) to Friedman (or his teacher Fischer). I wrote to them about it and they didn't seem to feel it necessary as they think Friedman is great. Durr.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Great video, but also not one that's particularly fair to Keynesians. I can think of at lest a couple of contradictions within Austrian theory that Keynes-rapper could have used to put a dent in it.

That said, for a video made for the layman, pretty good stuff.