What Keynes Would Think of ‘Neo-Keynesians’
Unlike his acolytes, he understood the value of gold and the dangers of currency debasement.
As the Federal Reserve continues to struggle with when to place its foot ever so slightly on the brakes of a historic monetary expansion, I’m reminded of Richard Nixon’s words in 1971 when closing the gold window in the face of a run on the dollar. Of this dramatic repudiation of gold as a monetary metal Nixon famously declared, “I am now a Keynesian,” more often misquoted as “We are all Keynesians now.”
British economist John Maynard Keynes probably would have been horrified by this attribution. Nixon’s announcement was, after all, a coup de grâce delivered to Bretton Woods, the international monetary system of which Keynes was a principal architect. More important, he would never have thought desirable a world where currencies are backed by nothing more than a governmental promise to pay while the printing presses whirled unchecked.
Mais
British economist John Maynard Keynes probably would have been horrified by this attribution. Nixon’s announcement was, after all, a coup de grâce delivered to Bretton Woods, the international monetary system of which Keynes was a principal architect. More important, he would never have thought desirable a world where currencies are backed by nothing more than a governmental promise to pay while the printing presses whirled unchecked.
Mais