John Maynard Keynes was a crackpot whose “economics” have provided cover for political intervention into the economy since the Great Depression. From Antonius Aquinas at acting-man.com:
The “Scientific” Fig Leaf for Statism and Interventionism
To the economic and political detriment of the Western world and those economies beyond which have adopted its precepts, 2016 marks the eightieth anniversary of the publication of one of, if not, the most influential economics books ever penned, John Maynard Keynes’ The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.
The mere fact that the book is lauded by TIME magazine on the cover should give everyone pause. We have taken it upon us to read this tome in its entirety, which proved to be quite a slog (the effects alternated between putting us to sleep and making us shake our head in wonderment as to how anyone familiar with economic theory could have taken this stuff seriously at the time of its publication). The idea was that in order to criticize an economic and political philosophy, one should know what it is actually about. That is by the way one of the many differences between us and Keynesians like Mr. Krugman, who occasionally publishes critical appraisals of Austrian economic theory, although he has evidently not read a single word of it. He has that in common with his hero Keynes, who according to Gottfried Haberler wrote a scathing review of Mises’ Theory of Money and Credit without having read it (!) – not exactly a display of intellectual honesty. It is unfortunately true though, as the cover spells out, that this book is the, or at least a “foundation of modern-day economics”. In case you were wondering why the economy is seemingly mired in perpetual malaise, look no further. Readers who lack the patience to face the superficiality, boredom and endless contradictions of the original text may want to check out Henry Hazlitt’s extensive critique The Failure of the “New Economics” (pdf, available for free), which makes the exercise a lot more interesting and entertaining. As an aside, putting quote marks around “New Economics” was entirely legitimate. Most of what Keynes wrote had already been propagated by a long line of interventionist cranks who preceded him, refuted by their contemporaries.
Sadly, even to this day, despite its thorough refutation by lights such as Henry Hazlitt and other eminent scholars, the General Theory, which spawned “Keynesianism” and its later variants, remains supreme in academics, financial markets, and public policy.
Despite its outlandish theoretical flaws and nonsensical economic jargon and the catastrophic empirical evidence of its failure to prevent financial downturns or “stimulate” sustainable growth, Keynesianism remains the ruling paradigm of economic thought. Why?
A number of trenchant reasons have been given for the General Theory’s continued dominance, however, one stands above all else: Keynesian economics provides the intellectual justification for economists, statisticians, technocrats, bureaucrats and policy wonks in their exalted positions as “fine tuners” of economies the world over.
Since markets are to Keynes and his disciples inherently unstable from erratic investment spending and aggregate demand, it is up to these theoreticians steeped in the knowledge of their master’s teachings to ameliorate any economic fluctuations.
To continue reading: John Maynard Keynes’ General Theory Eighty Years Later
