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In trying to work out in my own head what’s to be done, I’ve been reading Keynes two essays ‘How To Pay For The War’ and ‘The Means To Prosperity’. Keynes cheery optimistic analyses even in the darkest times has lessons for us today.
In TMTP Keynes tells us that the issues we face are not due to lack of material resources but a problem of political economy- the economic can be solved by the proper political decision making. We have the resources today to create a progressive future, the obstacle is political.
Here in ‘How To Pay For The War’, clear as day- a sovereign currency issuing govt can *always afford* to purchase domestic goods and services. The basic tenets of MMT are nothing new.
Keynes here again argues that the problems for developed economies in making progressive policies are not economic but political. Since Thatcher we have been fed the myth of affordability based upon taxation. It’s a lie. It’s not an economic question, it’s a political one.
Foremost in Keynes mind in HTPFTW is making the economic burden as equitable as possible. Here he argues that radical reform in a period of crisis is not only doable but desirable, crises provide opportunities. Here he was arguing for reforms to improve lowest earners income.
