Alternative Visions - Why Keynes’ Economics is Not ‘Keynesian Economics’

 As promised last week, Dr. Rasmus begins a series of deep analyses of three great economists: Keynes, Marx and Adam Smith, showing how mainstream economics distorts the views of all three. What did they really say and how all were critical of capitalist economy. Today’s first in the series discusses Keynes’ 1935 book, ‘A General Theory of Employment, Interest & Money’, explaining why what is known as ‘Keynesian’ (aka mainstream) economics is not the same as Keynes’ analysis of capitalist economy. Dr. Rasmus explains contemporary mainstream economics cleverly ignores key arguments in Keynes’ original work, creating a bastardized version composed of a mix of pre-Keynes economic ideas—that Keynes himself strongly rejected—and selective, ‘safe’, economic analysis from the General Theory. Why Keynes believed capitalism’s Achilles heel was its tendency to create ever-growing income inequality while failing to deal with chronic unemployment. Why and how Keynes argued against policies that reduced and subsidized business costs (interest rates, wages, tax cuts) as the way to generate investment and growth. And why he foresaw and warned against emerging financial speculation (in stocks and other financial asset markets) becoming the dominant trend in capitalist economies, at the expense of real investment that made things, created jobs, and real incomes. (In subsequent weeks on the show Dr. Rasmus will continue the analysis of Keynes, as well as Marx and Smith—explaining what they really said and not what the media and most economists portray as their views).