What Would Keynes Do Right Now

There is more interest just now in the controversial economist, John Maynard Keynes. He is mostly thought of as the one who advised Roosevelt in the late 1930's to make big public expenditures in order to lift the economy out of the Great Depression. It turns out Keynes had a broad overview of society and what makes for a good and successful one.

Keynes was not an ideological socialist. Instead, he had a model in his mind of a successful society. It included the view that poverty put income and social classes at odds. A successful society is not in a permanent civil conflict within itself. A peaceful and productive society is a successful one. Though he himself was wealthy he thought wealthy people were happier in a stable society.

There was a way, Keynes thought, to reach this societal ideal. It was progressive taxation and government spending. The spending needed to managed in a way that brought up the lowest incomes. These were the people who would stimulate the economy. Money to the wealthy would not be as helpful. 

What Trump and today's Republicans are doing is not what Keynes would advise. Insulting and leaving at the bottom  instead of lifting up the lowest rung society is less stable and productive instead of more.

Keynes may have understated the need for harmony and stability in society. The Great Depression was a period of unstable politics. There was more interest in Marx then than there has ever been since. Perhaps the growth of government he helped along saved capitalism in the United States. 

During the Great Depression I believe wealthy parts of society realized there are more poor voters than wealthy ones and that democracy itself could hurt the wealthy. It is a lesson not absorbed by the current upper income class--with the exception of a few like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

It would be helpful, I believe, if we could have debates centered on how much inequality can be tolerated in our society and have the peaceful and productive society Keynes envisioned.  

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