Chapter 10 & 11 Curiosities

It certainly is easier to blame on on the guy that came before you, and easy to leave it as the next guys problem. The problem you described is only worsened when you consider how frequently lower offices are voted in and out of office, further increasing the short-sightedness effect. The Keynesian diagnosis that savings is bad, doesn't crowd out private investment near as much as "spending=good" does, so I typically don't blame Keynesian policies failures on that theory. The largest fault of Keynesian economics is that it is central planning, which FA Hayek and Ludwig von Mises pointed out is doomed to fail since central planners cannot decide where resources should go anywhere near as individuals can.