We are all Keynesians now

Lew Lew at dialogues.demon.co.uk
Fri Jun 5 13:14:01 PDT 1998


In article <Pine.3.07.9806041900.A5377-b100000 at login>, Justin Schwartz <jschwart at freenet.columbus.oh.us> writes


>The "We are all x's now" was, I think, started by the Tory PM Harold
>MacMillan, who said in the early 60s, We are all Socialists now.

The phrase, "We are all Socialists now", was first used by Lord Harcourt in the late nineteenth century. I doubt very much that MacMillan said it, though he was a sort of collectivist, which was what the phrase really meant.

In Britain, writing in 1957, the future Prime Minister Harold Wilson wrote that Labour and all the major political parties were Keynesian (Remedies for Inflation). The Tories tried to claim Keynes by calling themselves "the party of Keynes and Disraeli", while the Liberals said they were "the party of Keynes and William Beveridge".

Favourite quotes:

"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back" (The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Bk. VI, Ch. 24).

"I will not be a party to debasing the currency."

Keynes refusing to pay more than a small tip on having his shoes polished, whilst on a visit to Africa. -- Lew



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