As a follow up to my previous post about the futility of defining "normal" in this age of rapid and constant change, here are a few delightful musings from legendary economist, John Maynard Keynes.
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems - the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion.
Most men love money and security more, and creation and construction less, as they get older.
I do not know which makes a man more conservative - to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still.
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be.
Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.
Most men love money and security more, and creation and construction less, as they get older.
I do not know which makes a man more conservative - to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still.
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be.
Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.
Would that we had Keynes with us today for much of his thinking goes to the dynamic changes now overtaking us. One of his ideas was to euthanize the rentier class (we now call them the "1%") as unproductive and a drag on society. Sounds reasonable.
7 comments:
"Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking."
I love it, Mound. They are truly words to live by.
An interesting question, Mound. Which makes a man more conservative? Being stuck in the present, or being stuck in the past?
Yes, Lorne, that's quite apt, isn't it?
I don't know which makes one more conservative or, today, neoliberal. Yet one entails looking back and the other entails looking down, gazing at one's feet. Doing either precludes one from looking up, ahead to the future. It's one of the great flaws of neoliberalism is this inability to visualize the future.
Making robots that can do and think like humans is the way of the future. It will put the masses out of work. We so lucky people who are not part of the money suck will die off paving the way for those 2% who own 96% of the money to own the world and do as they will without any responsibility or care. I agree...very negative. However, on the other hand, maybe robots of the future will dispose of the of that 2% making way for the 98% of the population left to live a life with of sustainability.
I think the net-investor class is the top 20%. These rent-seekers are a big problem because they literally get money for nothing.
This is counter to the idea of a meritocracy, where inequality is based on innovators and performers making extraordinary incomes from extraordinary contributions to society that contribute to human development.
This is why progressive taxation is so important. We abandoned it with Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. And not surprisingly, our 'neo' robber baron era culminated in economic collapse like the first one.
If we had stuck with Keynes, we'd have a 14 hour work week by now. Government debt would be a fraction of what it is. Personal debt wouldn't be spiraling out of control (as people borrow to hold on to past living standards.) We'd have continuously increasing public benefits and public works that produce more and more human development in a virtuous cycle.
The solution is to gradually shift capital ownership out of the hands of the top 20% and into the hands of the people in sovereign wealth funds that are controlled by democratic government. (Better than a totalitarian full-circle revolution.)
This can be accomplished with dynamic wealth and estate taxes in the form of capital (investments.) This is the gift that keeps on giving. These tax revenues grow over time, moderating inequality, instead of private capital growing out of control leeching all the wealth out of the economy.
Keynesian 'New Deal' economics created the progressive era and modern living standards which were unprecedented in history. It was a huge mistake to have abandoned it. The only way to save the global economy and civilization from imploding into world war is with a Green New Deal. This time global in scope to make reparations for past geopolitical corruption and crimes against humanity from Western powers. It's a tried-and-true solution.
"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics." - FDR
RE;
If we had stuck with Keynes, we'd have a 14 hour work week by now. Government debt would be a fraction of what it is. Personal debt wouldn't be spiraling out of control (as people borrow to hold on to past living standards.) We'd have continuously increasing public benefits and public works that produce more and more human development in a virtuous cycle.
A bit unrealistic if I my say so.
We live in an age that ,regardless of political affiliation, seems to think that the American dream (or it's facsimile)is still viable ,
I have yet to see an essay where they tout ; less is better.
Less offspring, less income, less rights (more responsibility)
We live in a world, again regardless of political affiliation, that demands more of our environment; it's just the distribution of such that is questionable.
TB
It's not about sacrifice. It's about tradeoffs.
Economics is about managing scare resources. But information is an infinite resource. There are potentially infinite worlds and realities we can create in cyberspace. All information consumption is green. Almost all information interfaces (from smart TVs to smart phones) are very low energy.
If people are working more from home, and conferencing and connecting over Skype, there will be less congestion on the highways. Transportation is a very high form of energy consumption.
It's not only possible to have a green energy economy reliant on recyclable materials, the alternative is actually stealing: i.e., externality. When we use fossil fuels we are playing Russian roulette with the heads of our children and grandchildren. This and all revealed externalities must go to zero. Externality is stealing. Stealing is a crime against someone. I.e., it's completely unacceptable.
We could easily transform to a 100% green energy economy over 20 to 30 years using Keynesian economics. First use progressive taxation to gradually subsidize green energy (through the electricity grid) to make it cheaper than fossil fuels. Then spend big on green-energy make-work projects to boost growth (which pays down the debt burden): from solar and wind power plants to mass transportation.
GDP or wealth is the sum of all services (goods can be considered services) in the economy. So the more people consume (responsibly) the more wealth is created. The more educated people become (which is becoming more accessible over the internet) the more they can contribute to the creation of wealth for the co-mutual self-interest of everyone in society.
We live in the age of insanity now. Plutocrats have captured the media, the government, the economy. But their second robber baron era is coming to an end. Just like FDR transformed living standards beyond anyone's most wildest imaginings from a 1932 perspective; the Green New Deal that's coming will transform civilization beyond what we can imagine now.
It's not pie-in-the-sky. It's all been done before. Like Republican president Dwight Eisenhower raised the top tax rate to 91% to pay for an interstate highway system. These mega-projects are very doable. All that's required is the political will. And it's becoming clearer and clearer to everyone that we must put the disgusting, treacherous, miserably-failed neoliberal era to an end.
For the times they are a-changin'.
(All these ideas are in the air; best-seller level information. It's inevitable.)
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