Re: Keynes quote

["Esteban Perez" <eperez@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1. Regarding Lenin's quote see:

Fetter F.W. (1977) "Lenin, Keynes and Inflation". Economica, 44, pp. 77-80.

2. Regarding the date of Keynes' quote (1919). It is not surprising. See, Keynes' two memoranda of 1915: "The financial prospects of war" and "the meaning of inflation." Later on: Inflation as a form of taxation in his Tract.
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>>> Alan G Isaac <aisaac@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 07/09/02 08:31am >>>
On Mon, 08 Jul 2002 22:55:15 -0500 "William B. Ryan" <william_b_ryan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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.

Some attribute it to Lenin in 1910.
That may help pin down the source.

> It is not especially radical.  It's part of the corpus of propaganda
> against government issued fiat money.

Yes it is used that way.  Which is why it is so interesting to
discover Keynes actually said something very similar:
" 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."

> 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.

Well, now that I have been pointed to the text, I would say it is a
rather modest paraphrase, not just a concoction.

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

Well as a quote it clearly has more substantial Keynesian than
Austrian roots.  Of course some Austrians have been very fond of the
gold standard, and Hayek claimed advantages for a free competition
among currencies.

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

Of course not.
Surely more than one in a million can diagnose this.
;-)

I would have assumed that the German hyperinflation provided a context
for Keynes's statements, but for the timing. (ECP is dated 1919.)

Alan