Comments on: Keynes was the bald one!

By: Russ

Russ — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:13:42 +0000

@AKM – And yet it’s not a fixed match. Hayek may be absolutely right, but his arguments have absolutely no appeal for the bankers and government types who are wanting a justification for using a tool. So far as the suits are concerned, Hayek may as well be talking puppies and lollipops.

By: Paul Marks

Paul Marks — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:41:24 +0000

Well Hayek was not quite bald (even very late in life when I had a look at him).

But I agree with most of the comments here – and disagree with Brian.

However, it is just possible that baldness is a subject on which I am not entirely disinterested…….

By: Surellin

Surellin — Mon, 02 May 2011 12:55:53 +0000

Strange. I had thought that the representations of Keynes and Hayek were more-or-less spot on, but looking at pics of the real men Keynes is quite a bit balder than he’s shown in the video, and Hayek has quite a bit more hair. I think that the reason is that the most famous representations of Keynes are from when he was a younger man and looked quite a bit like the actor in the video, while Hayek’s appearance is best known from later in his life, when he was indeed quite bald.

By: AKM

AKM — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:31:57 +0000

“It’s enormously subtle”

It should also be mentioned that they have Hayek win the boxing match by a knockout, after which Keynes is declared the winner by the referee/Senator, and the crowd congratulating Keynes on his win are all the bankers & politicians shown earlier benefiting from the high government expenditure.

By: Russ

Russ — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:04:14 +0000

It’s enormously subtle: note the distinctly middle-class dress on the part of those who are just dying to shake Hayek’s hand.

By: Laird

Laird — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:26:11 +0000

I agree with Endivio and Joshua. The JMK casting depicts him as superficially attractive but shallow, all style but no substance. It makes an important point in a very subtle manner.

I’m no fan of rap (far from it!), and I had to force myself to sit through this one. But not only does it capture that style spot-on, if you listen to the words it presents both sides of the debate very well. And it permits the listener to reach his own conclusions; it doesn’t force an answer on you, but rather lets you deduce it for yourself. Very well done.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:04:42 +0000

Haven’t seen the new one yet, but in “Fear the Boom and Bust” I got the impression that the casting of a bald, nerdy guy for Hayek was deliberate – to suggest that Keynes’ theories are more popular ONLY because he tells people what they want to hear. It’s a sly way of answering a largely uninformed audience’s first, and completely understandable, concern – namely “why, if this Hayek guy was so smart, is Keynes the only one I’ve heard of?”

For my part, I think they made the right choice. Doing it the other way around would be too obviously manipulative.

By: EndivioR

EndivioR — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:57:29 +0000

” the bald guy typically being the wicked loser” &c

I thought the casting was spot on. Whatever they looked like in real life, this is a vid for kids, and it works. JMK is a smarmy git; Hayek is the outsider, the underdog, spurned by the fawning Press and powers that be, modest, unassuming and a bit otherworldly, and scarcely a match for his physically fitter companion, yet holds his own by sheer dint of being right. It’s almost Rocky (1).

By: John B

John B — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:08:50 +0000

Oh yes. That’s about it.
Reagan and Thatcher did it somewhat, enough to stave off destruction, back then.
But I doubt something like that will be allowed to happen again.
Perhaps something else.

Pity about Hayek/Keynes. Indeed.