[alexamenos]

lol...you're so reliable.

"Animal spirits" is not a metaphor. It is a horribly elitist and demeaning phrase certainly, but when keynes called people in the market place animals he literally means they're animals -- we are animals who don't act rationally (we private people that is, not politicians who are rational actors according to keynes). We are driven by base animal instincts and we need to be managed accordingly.

...same with the Ivy League professor....

The points that he makes on confidence and trust are typical keynesian confusion of effect and cause -- of course people are unconfident with respect to the economy....anyone loaded down with debt and incapable of paying their phone bill is quite rationally unconfident. Likewise, a lender is likely to be quite unconfident about lending 6 figures to someone who isn't holding a job. This lack of confidence is a result of the recession, not it's cause.

Moreover, to say that problems in our economy came about because of a drop in confidence is like saying that I can't play basketball for the Dallas Mavericks because I lack confidence rather than the fact that I'm white, short, slow and I can't shoot. It's a stupid and irrational explanation, in other words.

To say that business cycles are caused by inexplicable changes in animal spirits is to say that business cycles are caused because they happen. It's no explanation at all, just a bunch of noise preceding the inevitable call for more government.