Rodney Johnson's Future and Mad Men's Past

             When Rodney Johnson, President of HS Dent, a company that provides economic research, spoke in Dallas last Friday, I was there. I'd not seen Rodney, a long-time client of mine, present since several years ago when I was invited to speak at the annual HS Dent conference myself. It's always provocative to hear his economic insights.

            At one point, Rodney referenced famed economist John Maynard Keynes, an advocate of government stimulus during recessions. Keynes often spoke of stimulating man's "animal spirits." A woman near me smirked, thinking Rodney was making fun of Keynes. He did have a point, but it was not so much about Keynes as referencing our current government.... When people who run companies and those who lend money are paralyzed with fear, they don't take appropriate risk to grow the economy.... That's what Keynes was talking about.  But what Rodney then said was the reason why he brought it up in the first place: