Forgot to mention: Like Communism, true Keynesian economics has never been tried, and for much the same reason. Each fails to take into account human nature. Real humans in a "communist paradise" will grub power and hoard resources whenever given a chance. Real humans running a "Keynesian paradise" economy will deficit spend when there's an excuse such as a recession or a war but they won't reduce spending below revenue in order to pay down debt and build up a surplus.
Agreed, and I did make a passing reference to this phenomenon in the essay:
"...while Keynes, obviously with one eye fixed on the metronomic back and forth of inflation and deflation over the previous century and a half, prescribed ratcheting down inflationary stimuli once the deflationary crisis had passed. But that part is always forgotten by national leaders who see permanent inflation as one of a government’s most lucrative and useful piggy banks."
[International Monetary Fund - a sort of international financial fireman]
Some would say that the IMF is a fireman in the Fahrenheit 451 sense.
[meeting at a ski resort in New Hampshire in 1994]
Typo, I think. 1944?
I knew most of the stuff about Breton Woods and its piece-by-piece dismantling. The American negotiator being a commie spy had passed me by. Can't say as it surprised me, though. A sizable fraction of the US government from the 1930s to today have worked for the USSR, the PRC, or other masters aside from the American people and Constitution.
re the federal reserve, I differ somewhat with you. I'd say that it's doing exactly what was intended since 1914, serving as the master control in the hands of people who don't know what they're doing. Its legality was dubious from the start but its influence was hobbled for its first two decades, until the checks and balances of backing currency by gold were removed.
It surprised me about White, too. We read a bit about Bretton Woods in high school, but I don't recall that being mentioned. And of course at that time there was no corroboration from the Venona Papers.
Forgot to mention: Like Communism, true Keynesian economics has never been tried, and for much the same reason. Each fails to take into account human nature. Real humans in a "communist paradise" will grub power and hoard resources whenever given a chance. Real humans running a "Keynesian paradise" economy will deficit spend when there's an excuse such as a recession or a war but they won't reduce spending below revenue in order to pay down debt and build up a surplus.
Agreed, and I did make a passing reference to this phenomenon in the essay:
"...while Keynes, obviously with one eye fixed on the metronomic back and forth of inflation and deflation over the previous century and a half, prescribed ratcheting down inflationary stimuli once the deflationary crisis had passed. But that part is always forgotten by national leaders who see permanent inflation as one of a government’s most lucrative and useful piggy banks."
[International Monetary Fund - a sort of international financial fireman]
Some would say that the IMF is a fireman in the Fahrenheit 451 sense.
[meeting at a ski resort in New Hampshire in 1994]
Typo, I think. 1944?
I knew most of the stuff about Breton Woods and its piece-by-piece dismantling. The American negotiator being a commie spy had passed me by. Can't say as it surprised me, though. A sizable fraction of the US government from the 1930s to today have worked for the USSR, the PRC, or other masters aside from the American people and Constitution.
re the federal reserve, I differ somewhat with you. I'd say that it's doing exactly what was intended since 1914, serving as the master control in the hands of people who don't know what they're doing. Its legality was dubious from the start but its influence was hobbled for its first two decades, until the checks and balances of backing currency by gold were removed.
Yes, typo. I fixed it.
It surprised me about White, too. We read a bit about Bretton Woods in high school, but I don't recall that being mentioned. And of course at that time there was no corroboration from the Venona Papers.