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Line 14: − − ==Biography== − − Keynes, the son of a professor, was born in [[Cambridge]], and went on to attend [[Eton College]] where he excelled in mathematics, classics, and history. In 1902 he entered [[King's College, Cambridge]] to read for a degree in mathematics, however, due to his interest in politics he found himself increasingly drawn toward economics. It was at Cambridge that he found himself under the tutelage of [[Alfred Marshall]] and [[A.C. Pigou]]. Keynes accepted an economics lectureship at Cambridge funded personally by Marshall. Soon thereafter he took a leave of absence to work for the British Treasury, an institution in which his expertise was frequently called upon during the [[World War I|First World War]]. Indeed, at the end of the war, Keynes was selected to be the Treasury's principal representative at the [[Paris Peace Conference]] of 1919. The subsequent [[Treaty of Versailles]] precipitated Keynes' resignation from the Treasury, as he felt it was draconian in its treatment of Germany. − − He returned to Cambridge. His ''The Economic Consequences of Peace'' in 1920 was a highly influential slashing attack on the economic disasters that he said would be caused by the Versailles Treaty. He furthered these ideas in 1922 with ''A Revision of the Treaty'', in which he argued that the reparations that Germany was being forced to pay would lead to the collapse of the German economy. In 1923, the German economy entered a period of [[hyperinflation]], which Keynes had not predicted. Keynes found himself becoming increasingly involved in the political process. First supporting the [[British Liberal Party|Liberal Party's]] 1929 "Election Manifesto", and later as an adviser to [[Ramsay MacDonald]]'s Labour government. − − Keynes' ''magnum opus'' appeared in 1936, ''The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money''. Largely a reaction to the high unemployment that had characterised post-war Britain, the book was among the most revolutionary works of modern economics, signaling a paradigm shift within modern economic thought. As the era went on his prestige and celebrity grew, in 1942 he was made a lord. During the war he advised the Treasury and was Britain's lead representative at the 1944 [[Bretton Woods Conference]]. He died of a heart attack in 1946.
→Biography
It is ironic that [[liberal]]s such as [[Barack Obama]] advocate Keynesian economic concepts since they are violating one of John Maynard Keynes' key principles. Keynes advocated having governments run [[budget surplus|budget surpluses]] during good economic times.<ref>EK Brown-Collie and Bruce E. Collier, What Keynes really said about deficit spending, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 17, No. 3, Spring, 1995</ref> In addition, Keynes advocated that governments should increase government spending during difficult times and even engage in [[deficit spending]]. Keynes was against large structural deficits as he believed they are a drag on the economy.<ref>http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/economy/meltzer_keynes.fortune/</ref> Liberals such as Barack Obama [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009|advocate massive U.S. government spending]] during a period when the federal government already has a [[Obama administration fiscal policy|massive amount of existing debt]]. Furthermore, Obama's colossal government spending was inefficient and [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009|did not pull the American economy out of its economic problems]], but merely [[Obama administration fiscal policy|buried the U.S. economy under more debt.]]
It is ironic that [[liberal]]s such as [[Barack Obama]] advocate Keynesian economic concepts since they are violating one of John Maynard Keynes' key principles. Keynes advocated having governments run [[budget surplus|budget surpluses]] during good economic times.<ref>EK Brown-Collie and Bruce E. Collier, What Keynes really said about deficit spending, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 17, No. 3, Spring, 1995</ref> In addition, Keynes advocated that governments should increase government spending during difficult times and even engage in [[deficit spending]]. Keynes was against large structural deficits as he believed they are a drag on the economy.<ref>http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/economy/meltzer_keynes.fortune/</ref> Liberals such as Barack Obama [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009|advocate massive U.S. government spending]] during a period when the federal government already has a [[Obama administration fiscal policy|massive amount of existing debt]]. Furthermore, Obama's colossal government spending was inefficient and [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009|did not pull the American economy out of its economic problems]], but merely [[Obama administration fiscal policy|buried the U.S. economy under more debt.]]
== Keynesian school of economics ==
== Keynesian school of economics ==