Once More... With Feeling... John Maynard Keynes On Capitalism, And The Rest Of Us...

[WillyT]

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all. - John Maynard Keynes

[Wilms]

1. You've been unrec'd again, Willy.

I think there are RepublicansUnderground.

:(

[WillyT]

2. It's A Badge Of Honor... And... There Are More Of Us, Than There Are Of Them...

So I don't worry about it so much.

:shrug:

:hi:

[robinlynne]

16. Don't worry. We'll rec him right back up!

[immoderate]

25. It doesn't appear in Keynes writings.

I wonder when he said it.

--imm

[BobbyBoring]

31. Maybe the same time that Churchill said

If you are 20 and not a Democrat you have no heart, if you are 30 and not a Republican you have no brain.


Edited to swap lib. and con. with Dem and Rep. as told by wingnuts failing to realize that Great Britan had niether~

[WillyT]

32. See Post #27...

:shrug:

[immoderate]

37. Thanks.

:)

--imm

[TrollBuster9090]

33. Keynes never said this. It's a bastardized misquotation from a book by Michael Albert published

in the year 2000. Albert is also the kind of author that would appear on Glenn Beck's chalkboard, so I suspect that's where this internet virus started. Either there or World Net Daily.


But THIS is a real Keynes quote, which we may as well post, given that most of these false Keynes quotes are coming from Hayek fans:

"The book, as it stands, seems to me to be one of the most frightful muddles I have ever read, with scarcely a sound proposition in it, and yet it remains a book of some interest, which is likely to leave its mark on the mind of the reader. It is an extraordinary example of how, starting with a mistake, a remorseless logician can end up in bedlam." About Hayek's book 'Prices and Production.'

[RKP5637]

3. Yeah, those that clawed their way to the top by any means did so because they

care about the mutual benefit of all. In many ways it's a ridiculous system, but serves humans as it rewards their worst natural instincts.

[Hotler]

4. kicking. n/t

[Bozita]

5. greatest.quote.ever.!.

[socialist_n_TN]

6. Kick........

That says it all.

[MuseRider]

7. K&R

My rec stayed for the moment. Good quote. I will use it.

[Warpy]

8. I'm SO stealing this one.

Keep your eye on the sig line.

[WillyT]

9. LOL !!! - Well Done !!!

:bounce:

:hi:

:kick:

[StarsInHerHair]

10. K&R to 28

[girl gone mad]

11. Good one! My favorite Keynes quote..

is this one:

"The Conservative belief that there is some law of nature which prevents men from being employed, that it is 'rash' to employ men, and that it is financially 'sound' to maintain a tenth of the population in idleness for an indefinite period, is crazily improbable – the sort of thing which no man could believe who had not had his head fuddled with nonsense for years and years."

The man was a genius and it is a shame that New Democrats are pushing us toward economic devolution.

[WillyT]

12. Ooo... I Like That...

Thank You !!!

:yourock:

:bounce:

:hi:

:kick:

[rhett o rick]

28. We need to kick the New-Democrats back into the Republican Party. nm

[Odin2005]

13. K&R

[Hydra]

14. Dare I hear "the Winds of Change"?

Even a few months ago I had someone point blank me: Yes, Capitalism requires a strong base like Socialism to leech off of, but it's still the best idea we've ever had.

I'm beginning to think that Capitalism is a form of shorthand for "I don't want to deal with the the economy" for the people who support it. Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is tempting- the idea that you have something that is self-regulating and inherently holy, if you do nothing to mess with it.

...Does that sound ludicrous to anyone else?

[socialist_n_TN]

36. The "Invisible Hand of the Marketplace" has

REPLACED God with the RW. Or has been conflated with God.

[donheld]

15. K & R

[jtuck004]

17. K&R, Two great quotes (see #11 as well). n/t

[Greybnk48]

18. Truer words were never spoken. K&R.

[white_wolf]

19. He beats the hell out of that asshole Friedman.

He and Rand have caused terrible harm to the world and this country. Rand provided the philosophical and moral basis and Friedman provided an economic one.

[freshwest]

20. K & R

[mistertrickster]

21. Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest

of things for the greatest good of everyone. That's the way brainy-quote has it . . .

On edit--after more web-research, it turns out your quote in the OP may be the older of the two.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes

[duhneece]

22. Closely related to modern conservative

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
John Kenneth Galbraith

[WillyT]

23. Kick !!!

:kick:

[eallen]

24. I doubt it

I'll change my mind if you can find where Keynes said that. But as far as I can tell, it can't be sourced.

:hippie:

[immoderate]

26. This is actually a quote from the people who say he said it.

It is keeping in tradition to not give a source for those. :)

--imm

[WillyT]

27. Here Ya Go:

Link: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/02/23/capitalism-motives/

:shrug:

:kick:

[TrollBuster9090]

34. Good job. Your link concludes there's no evidence he said this.

"In conclusion, there is no direct evidence that Keynes employed this quotation in either variant."

[rhett o rick]

29. Yeah, so what's your point?? nm

[eallen]

35. I don't think it's nice to put words into the mouths of the dead.

John Maynard Keynes was a prolific writer, with considerable wit. I suspect there are thousands of pithy aphorisms worth quoting, from his actual writings. So my first point is that we shouldn't put the dead to use for the purpose of elevating words we're not sure they said. Keynes did enough real work.

As a second point, to me, this doesn't sound like something he would say. It is too simplistic. Keynes was a defender of capitalism. Perhaps one of its most important defenders. Not the market fundamentalist variety that is now popular on the right, who want a pretend ideal that never existed and never real. Keynes a defender of a real capitalism, whose warp and woof he understood, whose benefits he appreciated, and whose drawbacks he endeavored to ameliorate.

:hippie:

[white_wolf]

38. I've always found the OPs quote strange coming from Keynes even if I agree with it.

I've found it strange for two reasons: 1. He wrote a letter to FDR praising him for saving capitalism 2. of socialism he said this: "Marxian Socialism must always remain a portent to the historians of Opinion — how a doctrine so illogical and so dull can have exercised so powerful and enduring an influence over the minds of men, and, through them, the events of history.” I don't agree with him, but we shouldn't be putting words in his mouth.

[rhett o rick]

39. Can you use words like "ameliorate" in mixed public.

Ok, ok, so you might have a point. At least you made me think. Not sure that's good tho.

be cool

[JDPriestly]

30. Qualify it with unregulated capitalism.