Keynes Would Laugh

From John Mason: Deflation?  A Follow Up.

"If Keynes thought that people in 2014 were still using models that were foundationally built upon the theory he constructed in 1936, he would probably laugh his way all the way to the bank. Keynes, himself, was notorious for changing his mind. In the 1920s and 1930s, in all the public advising he did, others got frustrated with him for always coming at issues from a different perspective. To have kept with the same model for eighty years was ridiculous.


By the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, investment became skewed toward the financial circuit in the economy and away from the acquisition of physical plant and equipment. And, the financial sector grew to generate forty percent of the income in the United States. Since the focus was not on physical capital but financial capital, economic growth slowed…and with it employment lagged.


And, what about all the unemployed, the underemployed, the discouraged that have left the work force, and others? Well, unfortunately, you got caught in the unintended consequences of well-meaning politicians who wanted to keep their jobs by continually getting re-elected. They kept their jobs…and you didn't. Too bad! Too bad we only have fundamentalist Keynesians around to suggest what the economic policy of our government should be. Too bad we don't have an economist like John Maynard Keynes to help us out."


The Nattering One muses... Government by the people and for the people? An urban myth that needs an update. Government by the corporation and for the special interests and now please stand for our corporate anthem. "There are no heroes, ultimately all that matters is the game".


Paraphrased from Cullen Roche, we have been trapped in a horror story written by academic economists who have a theoretical narrative that doesn't actually reflect our reality. There is great need for a redefinition of money aggregates and updating of out dated Keynesian concepts as mentioned in Peak What? The Quadruple D Part 2


"And, what about all the unemployed, the underemployed, the discouraged that have left the work force, and others?...They kept their jobs…and you didn't. Too bad!"


And if your not careful, this is where the political pendulum can swing off kilter, i.e. McCarthyism, John Birch, Nationalism, neo Nazi Fascists or Marxist Bolsheviks and Mensheviks come into power. Unless you maintain control by doing what is necessary (like the Chinese) and proven to work in the past...


We beat on this drum again... as mentioned in No Time Left For YouIPads For AllThe Final SolutionWages Trump Capital and Animal Spirits Trump Capital, we are in great need of real healing by letting nature take its course; and a newage WPA with private sector and government "animal spirits". While Rome burns, you can fiddle and pontificate till doomsday, the reality is quite simple. The malaise of "secular stagnation" will persist and there will be no meaningful economic recovery until this comes to pass.

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