"Money," Flying Lizards (1979)
"Money Changes Everything," The Brains (1980)
"Lie Dream of a Casino Soul," The Fall (1981)
punk rock attitudes about cash money
"When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill done."-- John Maynard Keynes, 1936
The picture from his gay period; 1900-1925-ish. Very good at math. Likes capitalism but blows up classical laissez-faire (unfettered market) capitalist theory. Argues free markets cannot, they in fact do not want to produce full employment, duh, contrary to classical free market equilibrium theory; saving is not only not the be-all-end-all capitalist value Adam Smith says it is, there can in fact be too much saving; consumption drives the economy and so demand is everything; when market bubbles burst, and they always do eventually, demand crashes, and markets turn risk averse, stuck, bearish, hibernating in their tax-evading island retreat. Government spending stimulates demand. Governments should not try to do what markets do well (make stuff, basically) but do what markets don't do well; which let's face it is a growing list obvious to most everyone. For instance, rent seeking, profiteering in health care is a private-equity capitalist abomination. Well, that's my massive market failure example, anyway. Not Maynard's (as he was known to his friends): His peeves were private markets stuck in a deflationary trap, stuck in that shutdown tight market bust position that comes after the boom, and the punitive economic measures taken by the Allies against the Central Powers after WW1, etc. At any rate, most important, or memorably, between WW1 and WW2 Keynes never stopped talking about how laissez-faire governments, like England, Europe, US, Western Powers, their domestic austerity and predatory foreign policies were trending towards violent social unrest and fascist political movements. Some say FDR's New Deal saved capitalism. Keynes was the theory, the ideas behind FDR saving capitalism. Government must work to humanize the economy, to make the economy work for everyone. This is a moral imperative but an economic one too, essentially. The self-regulating, unfettered, free market guided by an invisible hand of enlightened self-interest is delusional bunk, does not add up, it is a fantasy, a grand one in a certain light, say, free trade, stock trading, the arts, Bloomsbury, but often, frequently, regularly, free markets are self-destructive, trampling over the lives of the many, workers, homeless, the poor, immigrants, woman, the earth. Again, Keynes probably never mentioned the earth. But he would have eventually, I'm sure of it.
Biden on the Job: Lincoln, Labor, and Affordable Health Care
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