The Mises Community
An online community for fans of Austrian economics and libertarianism, featuring forums, user blogs, and more.
Forums
 »
Miscellaneous
 »
History
 »
Was Keynes a socialist....

Thank you for your participation and interest in the Mises Community. This software platform has seen its day, however, and so is now closed. We are redoing our entire site, so look for some exciting developments by the end of the year. Thank you for your support of Austrian economics, liberty, and peace.

Was Keynes a socialist....

rated by 0 users
Answered (Not Verified) This post has 0 verified answers | 5 Replies | 3 Followers

Top 500 Contributor
Male
239 Posts
Points 4,590
Andrew posted on Fri, Aug 7 2009 11:49 AM

I got to thinking about ideas and intentions hearing the left scream for health care and wondered " Was Keynes a Socialist and looked for a way to justify Big Government, or was he just an economist who thought government could increase employment and utility? "

In short was he a big government advocate or economic utilitarian?

Democracy is nothing more than replacing bullets with ballots

 

If Pro is the opposite of Con. What is the opposite of Progress?

  • | Post Points: 35

All Replies

Top 500 Contributor
123 Posts
Points 1,390
Reply
azazel replied on Fri, Aug 7 2009 12:00 PM

Actually, I think he was good at marketing... He felt that there was a huge market for a theory which would justify increased government spending and influence yet at the same time it would be good for general population. Sure winner...

Plus bankers can earn a lot of money in the process, too. He was the magician. His theory is about what you see and what you don't see and how to distract people from seeing what they should see. 

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 500 Contributor
123 Posts
Points 1,390
Reply
azazel replied on Fri, Aug 7 2009 12:11 PM

His theory I usually compare to childish belief that you could eat the cake by really small bites, not visible. You could eat the whole cake and nobody would notice it is gone. That's part one of the plan: slowly steal money. Don't let the people see it. When people eventually see it, blame the speculators and the failure of the market. Conspiracy theory fits nicely.

Also, use the fact that 99% of population does not know how to read graphs. Major distraction can be done that way.

When all else have failed, intervene by the same medicine that caused the problem  to "fix the problem". Get nice credit for that, because you can always claim it would be much worse if you didn't do it. 

  • | Post Points: 20
Not Ranked
Male
53 Posts
Points 805
Reply
Answered (Not Verified) Salamanca34 replied on Fri, Aug 7 2009 12:36 PM
Suggested by Kakugo

That is a good question to ask. Keynes was a member of the Fabian Society, so I would say yes, he was a socialist to some extent. Maybe more than we realize.

Read about the Fabians here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Society

"La cuestión es siempre la misma: que el gobierno o el mercado. No hay tercera solución." -Ludwig von Mises

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 25 Contributor
Male
4,850 Posts
Points 85,810
Reply
Andrew Cain replied on Mon, Aug 17 2009 1:10 AM

Actually Keynes was more of a fascist.

http://mises.org/MultiMedia/mp3/Keynes89/07_Keynes_Rothbard.mp3

'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael

 

  • | Post Points: 5
Not Ranked
71 Posts
Points 955
Reply
bigwig replied on Mon, Aug 17 2009 2:23 AM

azazel:

His theory I usually compare to childish belief that you could eat the cake by really small bites, not visible. You could eat the whole cake and nobody would notice it is gone. That's part one of the plan: slowly steal money. Don't let the people see it. When people eventually see it, blame the speculators and the failure of the market. Conspiracy theory fits nicely.

 

Actually, I like to paraphrase his ideas as "you can't have your cake until you eat it"

 

  • | Post Points: 5
Page 1 of 1 (6 items) | RSS

Ludwig von Mises Institute | 518 West Magnolia Avenue | Auburn, Alabama 36832-4528

Phone: 334.321.2100 · Fax: 334.321.2119

contact@Mises.org | webmaster | AOL-IM MainMises

Mises.org sitemap