Essays in Persuasion: a response/rant

Keynes’ Essays in Persuasion not only contains a characterization of the state of the Economy after the economic crash, but it also serves as a forum for him to expound his musings on the nature of man in regard to the economy and how this psychology has economical implications. He goes beyond formulas and into the psyche of man; a true critique or motivation (so to speak) of and for man to renounce these remarkably inefficient dispositions, begin to accept the truth and strive to be better (or smarter!).

Where exactly do these gems appear? To start, note the last paragraph of “Inflation and Deflation” where Keynes explains bankers as suicidal ignoramuses who are “blind” and cannot see past their own nose let alone into the future, he shows us that human psychology can be partially blamed for what is (was) to come. Another example: he shows that much of what makes markets move is human influence or the “confidence” people hold in the market. Such confidence makes or breaks success if it pervades the whole investment society—and among human beings rumors are more easily spread and feared than dispelled (146). By this I mean not to expound some fallacy that we, humans, are so fundamentally different from other animals socially that all forms of gossip exists within our species alone, but I can only refer to personal and narrated experience of others and generally accepted truths when discussing such matters…but I digress.

Keynes points to “eagerness” to invest and “amount of credit created” as conflicting halves of the same market soul. The underlying problem in relation to these halves is our fear of consequences—a fear which then creates worse outcomes in its end.

Keynes’ spirit speaks out in his statement “there is no reason why we should not feel ourselves free to be bold, to be open, to experiment, to take action, to try the possibilities of things” (133) and I wonder what he would say about our economic situation today. Would he exclaim “What fools! Your foresight sickens me! You are destined to wallow in the shame of your own self-prescribed failure, drenched in the storm of financial ruin and inevitable market and environmental destruction” Probably not—but it sounds cool.