Alternatives aplenty | 115 comments (115 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The Assertion of Absurdity (4.00 / 2)

It is an answer to your question: Keynes did, implicitly, say something about the long run. Namely that in the long run we will be better off if we do not waste resources (man-hours, industrial capacity) in the short run.

This may not seem like a particularly profound piece of advice, but it runs directly counter to the long-run assumptions of central tradition macro.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Nov 3rd, 2011 at 12:05:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Assertion of Absurdity (none / 1)

Well, that is the direct conclusion from a statement of Keynes that I do remember to the effect that labor that is left idle when there is socially useful work needed to be done is production that is lost forever.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Thu Nov 3rd, 2011 at 01:01:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Assertion of Absurdity (none / 0)

I have also a vague memory of him noting that it also destroys the productivity of that labor.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Thu Nov 3rd, 2011 at 04:41:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Assertion of Absurdity (none / 0)

I do recall from somewhere that leaving labor unemployed sufficiently long will do that. Could well be from the General Theory.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Thu Nov 3rd, 2011 at 10:29:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Assertion of Absurdity (none / 0)

Hysteresis is a solidly mainstream concept.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Fri Nov 4th, 2011 at 10:41:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Assertion of Absurdity (4.00 / 2)

Of course, physical hysteresis works in the opposite manner ~ leave the metal unstressed, and it maintains its strength, subject it to repeated stress and strain, it weakens.

Our employment is more akin to physical fitness ~ leaving workers unstressed reduces our immediate capacity for work, if we are put to work and subjected to the regular stresses and strains of working, our immediate capacity for work increases.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Fri Nov 4th, 2011 at 01:29:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Alternatives aplenty | 115 comments (115 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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