Re: Keynes quote

["William B. Ryan" <william_b_ryan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, but did Lenin really say it?  If so, what is the original citation from Lenin?  Keynes didn't tell us.  Lenin is "said" to have declared, said Keynes.  I'm sure our Marxist-Leninist friends can supply the answer if there is one.

It is not especially radical.  It's part of the corpus of propaganda against government issued fiat money.  The purported "quotation" I suspect originated from the Populist-Greenbacker era, in reaction thereto, and attributed to the Rothchilds, Lenin, Keynes, whomever was convenient at the moment to attribute it to.  A concoction, pure and simple.

It's also part and parcel of "Austrian" "economics," to this very day, isn't it, Alan?

Question for Alan:  Do you agree with it?  If so, why?

----- Original Message -----
From: Alan G Isaac <aisaac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 15:04:37 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
To: pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Keynes quote


> On Mon, 08 Jul 2002 11:47:08 -0500 "William B. Ryan" <william_b_ryan@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > A text search from my electronic version of *The Consequences* returns
> > this:
>
> > "Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy
> > the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a
> > continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate,
> > secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their
> > citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they
> > confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many,
> > it actually enriches some."
>
> > Keynes is attributing the thought to Lenin, not himself.
>
> Thanks for the reference.
> But keep going!  He continues:
> " Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer
> means of overturning the existing basis of society than to
> debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces
> of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a
> manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
>
> Alan
>
>
>

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