Beyond the Keynesian Endpoint
Crushed by Credit and Deceived by Debt — How to Revive the Global
Economy
During the Great Depression, legendary British economist Keynes advocated using
government money to fill the economic void until consumer spending and business investment
recovered. But what happens when governments can't do that anymore? You've arrived at
"The Keynesian Endpoint": when the money has run out before the economy has been
rescued. That's where we are. Exhausted balance sheets leave policy makers with few viable
options to bolster economic growth; increasingly, they point leaders and citizens towards
brutal choices that were previously unimaginable. Meanwhile, investors struggle to
navigate volatile markets overwhelmed by sovereign debt—and, as they do, they lose
tolerance for fiscal recklessness.
In the U.S. and around the world, debt-fueled spending programs devised to cure the
global financial crisis are now morphing into poison. In Beyond The Keynesian Endpoint,
PIMCO Executive Vice President and market strategist Tony Crescenzi illuminates the
mounting sovereign debt crisis, dissects each of the many scenarios now swirling around
it, and reveals the profound implications for governments, investors, and the world
economy.
Tony Crescenzi is Executive Vice President, Market Strategist, and Portfolio
Manager for PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm. He was previously Chief
Bond Market Strategist at Miller Tabak, where he worked for 23 years.
Crescenzi appears regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg, has guest-hosted Squawk Box, and has
taught at Baruch College’s executive MBA program for 10 years. He has 28 years of
investment experience and holds an MBA from St. John’s University and an undergraduate
degree from the City University of New York.
His books include Investing from the Top Down, the recent Fourth Edition of Marcia
Stigum’s 1,200-page classic The Money Market, and The Strategic Bond Investor, Second
Edition.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Reaching the Keynesian Endpoint 1
Chapter 1 Beware the Keynesian Mirage 9
Chapter 2 The 30-Year American Consumption Binge 39
Chapter 3 How Politicians Carry Out Fiscal Illusions, Deceive the Public, and
Balloon Our Debts 81
Chapter 4 The Biggest Ponzi Scheme in History: The Myth of Quantitative Easing 113
Chapter 5 How the Keynesian Endpoint Is Changing the Global Political Landscape
141
Chapter 6 Age Warfare: Gerontocracy 153
Chapter 7 The Hypnotic Power of Debt 187
Chapter 8 When is being in Debt a Good Thing? 217
Chapter 9 The Investment Implications of the Keynesian Endpoint 229
Chapter 10 Conclusion: The Transformation of a Century 271
Endnotes 275
Index 291
304 pages, Hardcover