Keynes

[David Morris]

Thanx Mark,

Stoopid me thinks stoopid stuff, mostly.

David Morris

On Saturday, January 16, 2016, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I think you just answered your own question.
>
> J
>
> On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 10:25 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > How could any serious intellectual person indict Keyne's theories
> because of
> > his personal sexual or other fickle beings?
> >
> >
> > On Saturday, January 16, 2016, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Good ol' Guido.
> >>
> >> He thinks we're all wrong about Hitler, too!
> >>
> >> Nice intellectual company you keep.
> >>
> >> J
> >>
> >> On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 3:34 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen
> >> <lorentzen at hotmail.de <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > ... Keynes is a fascinating thing. He has been erected into some kind
> of
> >> > a
> >> > colossal wax icon: he is one of those authors who, through posterity's
> >> > massive, torrential, relentless and extraordinarily abiding
> >> > mythologizing
> >> > effort, have come to lose all adherence to their historical, physical
> >> > existence. And, deep down, Keynes was a mask of such fanatical vanity
> >> > that
> >> > this kind of modern sanctification must have been precisely the type
> of
> >> > goal
> >> > he had been striving to secure for his entire life.
> >> >
> >> > Discursively - I mean propaganda-wise - Keynesianism is (or used to
> be)
> >> > the
> >> > sort of grand shibboleth that is systematically used and leveraged
> >> > whenever
> >> > the speaker needs to strike the Liberal pose. In other words, when you
> >> > wish
> >> > to appear as the sober, reasonable, competent, sharp and compassionate
> >> > moderate, you begin to envelop yourself in Keynesian verbigeration:
> you
> >> > start with, "as a Keynesian, I should say that ...", and then - to
> >> > impress
> >> > upon the audience a comforting image of your expert and humane
> >> > "knowledge" -
> >> > you go on dropping around abstruse nonsense such as "the liquidity
> trap"
> >> > and/or "the investment multiplier" and the incontournable "deficit
> >> > spending"."
> >> >
> >> > The objective of this standard psychical charade is to convey to those
> >> > around you that: 1) quite evidently you understand perfectly and
> >> > technically
> >> > what is being discussed (when, in truth, you don't); and 2) most
> >> > critically,
> >> > that you are a well-bred bourgeois who is possessed by no indecorous
> >> > whim to
> >> > challenge authority, but that you nonetheless have always taken a
> >> > deepest
> >> > and purest interest in the fate of the poor little folk - hence,
> >> > "keynesianally", you will always say that a little deficit-spending
> >> > (plus a
> >> > tad of inflation) would surely relieve the wretched "charwoman". In
> this
> >> > regard, to play the game in proper fashion, you always need, opposite
> >> > from
> >> > you, an obnoxious curmudgeon of the conservative Right, who's cued to
> >> > bark
> >> > about the merits of toughness, competition and the naturally self -
> >> > regulating markets presently overburdened by the mad stupidity of the
> >> > "Socialists". Simply said, the Keynesian stance is confected to play
> >> > "good
> >> > cop" when the economy falls on black days: the Keynesian is the
> leftist
> >> > in
> >> > good-standing expected to deplore the avidity of bankers and to invoke
> >> > the
> >> > sanative power of the state to redress the ravages of corporate abuse.
> >> > It
> >> > sounds and looks "good", but it neither solves nor explains anything.
> >> >
> >> > As for Keynes the man, from what we know, he seems to have cut a
> pretty
> >> > despicable figure: arrogant, racist, a shameless thief of other
> people's
> >> > ideas, an exploiter of the underclass (for male prostitutes), and a
> >> > speculator. But more to the point, as a theorist, he was a total
> >> > nullity: he
> >> > is the dottore of the commedia dell'arte, the pedantic character who
> >> > knows
> >> > everything without understanding anything thereof.
> >> >
> >> > This man, who had been hailed by Time magazine in 1999 as one of the
> >> > towering gods of the 20th century, failed miserably to comprehend
> every
> >> > major event of his time: 1) Versailles, case in point; 2) Britain's
> >> > return
> >> > to gold, which he denounced as the inane archaism that caused the
> Great
> >> > Strike of 1926 (it was neither the former nor did it cause the
> latter);
> >> > 3)
> >> > the coming and severity of the Slump; and 4) the Nazi recovery. As for
> >> > Versailles, he did not have a clue as to what was being devised: he
> >> > stormed
> >> > out of the conference moaning that Germany could not pay what was
> asked
> >> > of
> >> > her, not intuiting, as Veblen did, that those astronomical sums were
> >> > never
> >> > meant to be paid, but only, through the first series of "gold
> >> > installments",
> >> > to burst the bubble of the German war debt.
> >> >
> >> > But then again, it was not his role to predict, intuit anything; he
> did
> >> > exactly what the commedia expected of him: a nice little Keynesian
> >> > tantrum,
> >> > followed by a book that told the story (nowadays it would have come
> with
> >> > a
> >> > bonus DVD ... ) ... And then in 1941 (if I remember correctly) to
> crown
> >> > his
> >> > remarkable dramatic career he was made a director of the Bank of
> >> > England;
> >> > yes, imagine him, gloatingly gabbing away at the very feet of the High
> >> > Priest, Montagu Norman ... That's Keynes, the great Keynes, the
> champion
> >> > of
> >> > the enlightened middle-class ...
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Guido Preparata
> >> >
> >> >
> >> -
> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
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