Re: [Marxism] Keynes returns from the dead?
POSTING RULES & NOTES
#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
*
Didn't Keyenes return 10 years ago? Skidelsky made the rounds in the media
with the tagline "Return of the Master."
It's almost like the bourgeoisie habitually tosses kibble with their left
hand outwards to pacify the public when these economic downturns happen or
something...
Returning to Keynesianism would be an ecological catastrophe. The dollar
would either remain a) pegged to the daily price of the Saudi oil barrel
(the petro-dollar), which depends upon further burning of fossil fuel, or
b) return to some sort of metallic standard, which is dependent upon
extractive activities that are terribly polluting.
The ecological crisis is catalyzed by the perpetual growth model of
economics we operate upon in the totality of the industrialized world. The
problem goes even deeper because the renewable energy sector has yet to
surmount the polluting impacts brought about by the production of renewable
energy implements like solar panels. We really are in a quandary and have
substantial challenges to confront.
--
Best regards,
Andrew Stewart
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:26:16 -0700
From: John Reimann <1999wild...@gmail.com>
To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
Subject: [Marxism] Keynes returns from the dead?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Those of the younger generations will not remember, and maybe many won't be
familiar with Keynes. He was the architect of the economic strategy post WW
II. That was the strategy that advocated deficit spending as a means of
preventing new economic disasters like the 1930s Depression. His theories
lost capitalist support in the fact of the threat of runaway inflation in
the US in the late 1970s. Now, it seems, in the face of renewed crises,
they may be making a comeback. For those who can't open the article, here
it is:
"
If, like me, you feel like our nation is going through hell right now, then
you might also agree that it?s a good time to recall the admonition, ?When
you?re going through hell, keep going.? But where are we to go? What is the
best path out of our intersecting crises: pandemic, recession and violent,
structural racism?
For that, I recommend turning to the renowned British economist John
Maynard Keynes. I?ve been reading Zachary D. Carter?s excellent new
biography of Keynes, finding the book and Keynes?s ideas remarkably timely.
Keynes?s towering body of work points toward a more inclusive economy and
society, one that throws off the yoke of dominant assumptions that, 74
years after Keynes?s death, still repress functional, representative
democracy.
Most people associate Keynesian economics with governments spending their
way out of recessions, a policy playing out in real time across the globe.
That?s certainly core to the Keynesian revolution in political economics,
but to stop there fails to capture the scope of insights Keynes developed
long before he was pushing Roosevelt to spend expansively on the New Deal
during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Through the First World War and especially during its aftermath, when his
sage guidance was ignored, Keynes struggled to reconcile the tragic
occurrences he saw unfolding with the classical assumptions that markets,
and thus the societies they support, would always naturally settle into
optimal conditions.
Keynes correctly predicted that imposing severe reparations on post-World
War I Germany would plant the seeds for the next world war. He saw,
contrary to the classical model in which he?d been trained, endless cycles
of booms and busts born of assumptions about money, wages and work that
relentlessly delivered high unemployment and stagnant earnings for workers
amid huge returns for ?rentiers? (those whose incomes derived from
compounding wealth, not work).
He witnessed the political discontent that grew out of these dynamics and
understood how the failure of the capitalism of the day ? underwritten by
untethered, often corrupt financial markets ? provided powerful fuel for
communism. Keynes rejected Marxism, believing instead, as Carter notes,
that ?it was time for capitalism not to be overthrown but to be ?wisely
managed.? ? But Keynes understood and feared the political outcomes of an
economic system that failed to deliver consistent security, if not
prosperity, to most people.
Why did capitalism need management?
Because, contrary to assumption, it didn?t manage itself. Keynes observed,
for example, that individual people often saved more than businesses
invested (again, contrary to assumption). To this day, economics students
are taught that savings equals investment, and that
[Marxism] Keynes returns from the dead?
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Those of the younger generations will not remember, and maybe many won't be familiar with Keynes. He was the architect of the economic strategy post WW II. That was the strategy that advocated deficit spending as a means of preventing new economic disasters like the 1930s Depression. His theories lost capitalist support in the fact of the threat of runaway inflation in the US in the late 1970s. Now, it seems, in the face of renewed crises, they may be making a comeback. For those who can't open the article, here it is: " If, like me, you feel like our nation is going through hell right now, then you might also agree that it’s a good time to recall the admonition, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” But where are we to go? What is the best path out of our intersecting crises: pandemic, recession and violent, structural racism? For that, I recommend turning to the renowned British economist John Maynard Keynes. I’ve been reading Zachary D. Carter’s excellent new biography of Keynes, finding the book and Keynes’s ideas remarkably timely. Keynes’s towering body of work points toward a more inclusive economy and society, one that throws off the yoke of dominant assumptions that, 74 years after Keynes’s death, still repress functional, representative democracy. Most people associate Keynesian economics with governments spending their way out of recessions, a policy playing out in real time across the globe. That’s certainly core to the Keynesian revolution in political economics, but to stop there fails to capture the scope of insights Keynes developed long before he was pushing Roosevelt to spend expansively on the New Deal during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Through the First World War and especially during its aftermath, when his sage guidance was ignored, Keynes struggled to reconcile the tragic occurrences he saw unfolding with the classical assumptions that markets, and thus the societies they support, would always naturally settle into optimal conditions. Keynes correctly predicted that imposing severe reparations on post-World War I Germany would plant the seeds for the next world war. He saw, contrary to the classical model in which he’d been trained, endless cycles of booms and busts born of assumptions about money, wages and work that relentlessly delivered high unemployment and stagnant earnings for workers amid huge returns for “rentiers” (those whose incomes derived from compounding wealth, not work). He witnessed the political discontent that grew out of these dynamics and understood how the failure of the capitalism of the day — underwritten by untethered, often corrupt financial markets — provided powerful fuel for communism. Keynes rejected Marxism, believing instead, as Carter notes, that “it was time for capitalism not to be overthrown but to be ‘wisely managed.’ ” But Keynes understood and feared the political outcomes of an economic system that failed to deliver consistent security, if not prosperity, to most people. Why did capitalism need management? Because, contrary to assumption, it didn’t manage itself. Keynes observed, for example, that individual people often saved more than businesses invested (again, contrary to assumption). To this day, economics students are taught that savings equals investment, and that the way to boost investment is to save more (this is a common argument against running budget deficits). But people worried about the future — maybe due to … oh, I don’t know, an invisible, pernicious microbe — will, from the perspective of broad social welfare, oversave and underconsume. There is no invisible hand to magically balance such things out, and thus an enlightened government must intervene to offset imbalances. This all sounds theoretical until you realize that the U.S. labor market, as I pointed out last week, has been at full employment only 37 percent of the time since 1972 and the black rate has never reached that mark. In other words, the assumption that full employment is the norm is thoroughly disproved by the data now, and it was no truer in Keynes’s time. Yet it still pervades economic thinking and policy. Keynes saw that markets do not settle into an “optimal equilibrium” but can diverge from such conditions for years on end. Moreover, markets exist in a political context that determines who wins and who loses. Examples include product and industry regulations, labor standards (e.g., minimum wages and overtime rules), the extent of collective bargaining, anti-discrimination rules and their enforcement, and employers’ leeway to fire workers at will. In his time, as today, that political context is held in place by
[Marxism] Keynes: socialist, liberal or conservative? | Michael Roberts Blog
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2019/06/05/keynes-socialist-liberal-or-conservative/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Keynes: socialist, liberal or conservative? | Michael Ro berts Blog
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * To my knowledge, Keynes was never a radical socialist. I think Michael Roberts is correct in characterizing him as having been a supporter of a managed capitalism. Keynes's disciples on the other hand, have been all over the lot politically. Joan Robinson was very much a socialist. And in the 1960's she had even been supportive of the Cultural Revolution in China. Other Keynesians have been much more conservative politically. Arthur Burns, who served under both the Eisenhower and the Nixon Administrations was an example of a Keynesian economist who was of decidedly conservative political leanings. Most Keynesians have, however, usually been center-left in their politics. Jim Farmelant http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant http://www.foxymath.com Learn or Review Basic Math -- Original Message -- From: Michael Meeropol via Marxism Subject: Re: [Marxism] Keynes: socialist, liberal or conservative? | Michael Roberts Blog Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 08:50:57 -0400 POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I think Keynes over the course of his life validated the old Walt Whitman line: "Do I contradict myself? So, I contradict myself!! I am vast. I contain multitudes!!!" (don't even know if I got the quote right --- but I have the essence. Keynes as many things all wound up into one --- Joan Robinson always claimed that Keynes was not a radical socialist --- and she knew him well!!) _ MD:Do This Immediately If You Have Chronic Pain (Watch Now) theallnaturalpainremedies.com http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5cf7c7d4b275d47d47ccast01vuc _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Keynes: socialist, liberal or conservative? | Michael Roberts Blog
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I think Keynes over the course of his life validated the old Walt Whitman line: "Do I contradict myself? So, I contradict myself!! I am vast. I contain multitudes!!!" (don't even know if I got the quote right --- but I have the essence. Keynes as many things all wound up into one --- Joan Robinson always claimed that Keynes was not a radical socialist --- and she knew him well!!) _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Keynes part 2 – internationalist or nationalist? | Michael Roberts Blog
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/keynes-part-2-internationalist-or-nationalist/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Keynes: revolutionary or reactionary? – part one: the economics | Michael Roberts Blog
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/keynes-revolutionary-or-reactionary-part-one-the-economics/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Keynes question
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * At some point recently I read somewhere that many politicians do not read the full General Theory by Keynes and instead read a certain shorter article or essay by him. Anyone know the title? -- Best regards, Andrew Stewart _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
