Keynes Called Himself a Socialist. He Was Right.

Mises Wire ^ | 4/10/20 | Edward W. Fuller

[DallasBiff]

Introduction

In 1997 Ralph Raico published an article titled “Keynes and the Reds.” Raico’s article highlighted John Maynard Keynes’s review of a 1936 book by the British socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb called Soviet Communism. In his review, Keynes discusses Joseph Stalin’s USSR and concludes: “The result is impressive.” For Raico, a historian in the classical liberal tradition, this statement contradicts the conventional idea that Keynes was a model liberal.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; History
KEYWORDS: communism; keynes; mamdani; nyc

[DallasBiff]

I know a five year old article, but it seems history repeats itself, with Mamdani becoming the next mayor of NYC.

[hinckley buzzard]

Numerous “intellectuals” were gaga over the Bolshevik takeover. . In 1919 after visiting the new Soviet Russia, American writer Lincoln Steffens enthusiastically wrote “I have been over to the future, and it works!” Keynes was apparently a like-minded ninny.

[Chewbarkah]

Keynes also made clear statements that bourgeois values and civilization were vastly better for humanity than the alternatives — hardly what a Marxist thinks.

Admitting that the Soviet Union under Stalin’s combination of State Capitalism and forced labor had “impressive” results in electrification, industrial development, mining, railways, literacy, etc., is not an endorsement of communism. Similarly, we can despise Hitler and still conclude that the Autobahn and the German industrial recovery were “impressive”.

[ChessExpert]

I’ve heard that the trains ran on time in Mussolini’s Italy.

I seem to recall that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders asserted that we have too many brands of deodorants. Not efficient they say. My advice, pick one that works for you and forget about the others.

[ChessExpert]

Keynes’s balanced budget multiplier was definitely socialistic in nature. It was also hokey/gimmicky on the face of it.

Even the basic assumptions of the balanced budget multiplier are untrue. That we all pay our taxes at the end of the year is untrue. That government spending commences on day 1 of the year is also untrue.

To sum up. The balanced budget multiplier starts with assumptions that are simplistic and untrue. It then treats the economy like it’s a machine, describable by an equation. The upshot is the claim that the government can stimulate the economy through taxation and spending. Usually, the opposite is the result as money is more likely to be misspent by government than by people spending their own money on their own behalf.

[dfwgator]

Even Hitler and Goebbels thought the Soviets did some things right.

[Jim W N]

“Keynesian” Economics is based on flawed economic theory to justify gov’t command and control.

Free Market Economics is the TRUE economic theory based on freedom from gov’t interference and, as Adam Smith wrote, creates, “The Wealth of Nations”.