I found a site the other day that gave me an unexpectedly good answer. The site is called Student Hub. They show questions and provide one or more answers for each. One question of theirs turned up in my search results:
Why did John Maynard Keynes support the idea of pump priming, despite increased federal budget deficits?
I thought it might be worth following up. What I found was awesome:
Answer 1
Despite increasing federal budget deficits, and enlarging the functions of the State, Keynes believed that his theory was the only way to save capitalism from totalitarianism. And the only practicable way of avoiding the destruction of existing economic forms in their entirety and as the condition of the successful functioning of individual initiative.
The answer floored me. Seldom do I find
people quoting Keynes to explain Keynes; but almost never do I find
someone quoting Keynes in regard to "avoiding the destruction of
existing economic forms in their entirety". To be clear, Answer 1
recalls these words from Keynes
"of avoiding the destruction of existing economic forms in their entirety and as the condition of the successful functioning of individual initiative."
which can be found in Chapter 24 of The General Theory or as part of the full text of the book.
Keynes's thoughts on saving capitalism from totalitarianism can also be found in Chapter 24.
Answer 1 at the Student Hub ends with this thought:
The popular and widely held misconception of Keynes theory is that he simply prescribed that States operate national deficits in times of economic recession in order to stimulate demand.
Following Answer 1 we find
Answer 2
He believed that deficit spending would create more jobs, therefore, stimulate the economy.
But of course Answer 2 is the popular and widely held misconception that Answer 1 alerts us to.
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