Will Today's Austerity Bring Tommorrow's Prosperity?

Keynes had an answer for economists who did not support government efforts to moderate the effects of the Great Depression.  Following David Ricardo, they assumed that the market was self correcting and that the focus should be on the long run.  The Great Depression had lasted for many years and Keynes responded that in the long run we would all be dead.  Many conservatives have claimed that Keynes did not care about the long run because he had no children.  Lord Robert Skidelsky, who wrote a three volume biography of Keynes, wrote this article to clarify the views that Keynes had about the short term versus the long term.  It is well worth reading.