http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/steve-keen/ Steve Keen is Associate Professor of Economics & Finance at the University of Western Sydney. His popular book, Debunking Economics, explained how many widely believed economic models have been shown by economists to be wrong “hence the subtitle, the naked emperor of the social sciences”. Since 1995, Keen’s main research focus has been the development an alternative, empirically-grounded theory, known as the “Financial Instability Hypothesis”, which argues that finance markets are inherently unstable. Steve’s forthcoming book on this topic, Finance and Economic Breakdown, will be published by Edward Elgar (UK) in 2011. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/private-debt-is-the-pig-in-the-farmyard/ The debate the government deficit reminds me of the slogan that The Sheep from Animal Farm chanted in support of The Pigs: “Four legs good, Two legs bad”. Anything The Pigs did was OK, because they were Animals, and therefore good. Anything Humans did was not, because they walked on two legs and were therefore bad. Ditto the debate over the debt levels being accumulated by the Federal Government in response to the Global Financial Crisis: it seems that Government debt is “two legged”, while private debt incurred is “four legged”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Steve Keen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/private-debt-is-the-pig-in-the-farmyard/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/private-debt-is-the-pig-in-the-farmyard/#item295 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:40:30 +0000 Steve Keen | Author bios | The Punch