The wisdom of John Maynard Keynes

"When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)

There are folks who may not know exactly that Keynes was an influential British economist but have heard of "Keynesian economics"…..and of course there are lots of folks who have an opinion about Keynesian economics without knowing exactly what it means…

In the tiniest nutshell, Keynes demonstrated that governments could "prime the pump" with spending in times of economic recession in order to stimulate demand and restore economic vitality.

In 1999 Time Magazine named Baron Keynes among the 100 most important and influential people of the 20th century, and said: "His radical idea that governments should spend money they don't have may have saved capitalism."

I don't suspect that no one will disagree with that observation….I also don't suspect that the so-called "free markets" have done a great job in curing the financial disaster that hit us in 2007-2008. For instance, I'm waiting for the "job creators" to do their thing…..



Anyway, Keynes famously responded with the retort printed above when a critic accused him of changing his position on some aspect of monetary theory during the Great Depression.

I like this quote because it's a reminder that old facts and old opinions need to be revisited sometimes, and sometimes it's immensely satisfying to defend a long-standing opinion, sometimes it might even be an ego builder, but sometimes it's not very smart…..

A few words about truth...