Schumacher cited those words in the context of a discussion of the ethical flaw in Keynes' ironical argument that the "economic possibilities for our grandchildren" somehow depended on us continuing, for a few decades more, to "pretend to ourselves... that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and far is not."
---------------- I have often cited Keynes in a positive way. That he somehow knew that the production problem would be solved and that the economic issues facing the society of his day would melt away in the future. I saw his quote as the statement of an ideal future, but that in the short term there is the need to deal with scarcity and a need to reward behavior that is not up to what we would want in an ideal future. That market behavior that might be hurtful of others, behavior carried out by selfish and greedy people will need to be rewarded to get society out of the slump of the 1930's. I didn't see it as an ethical issue but rather as pragmatism in action. However the way you put it has caused me to re-think my earlier position. Arthur -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sandwichman Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 11:46 PM To: Keith Hudson; RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: [Futurework] In the name of charity Keith wrote: "Every conceivable type of government cares about unemployment, and has done so throughout history if it wants to maintain power and sleep easy." The semi-official conventional wisdom on unemployment is that it doesn't exist. If it does exist, it is voluntary. If it is involuntary, it reflects moral defects of the unemployed themselves. If it exists, is involuntary and not the fault of the unemployed it will soon be eliminated through the equilibrium of the market. Therefore it doesn't REALLY exist. So why should every conceivable type of government "care" about unemployment? There are, of course, plenty of lucrative swindles that can be engineered in the name of charity. Ray Harrell and I met up yesterday afternoon and during our conversation Ray brought up Herman Melville's "The Confidence Man." Government's care about unemployment the way the confidence man cares about... well, *confidence*! As for the efficacy of gold as a "real" monetary standard, it reminds me of Schumacher's quote from Gandhi about "dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good." Schumacher cited those words in the context of a discussion of the ethical flaw in Keynes' ironical argument that the "economic possibilities for our grandchildren" somehow depended on us continuing, for a few decades more, to "pretend to ourselves... that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and far is not." -- Sandwichman _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
