Commentary
In 1936, John Maynard Keynes, who was the most influential economist of the 20th century, wrote in his popular treatise (“The General Theory”) of his ultimate solution for permanent growth and high employment without business cycles. He called for the government to drive interest rates to zero. This would spur massive borrowing and then investment. It would end the free ride for the idle rich.
It would accomplish the ultimate goal: “the euthanasia of the rentier class.” Only this would eliminate “the cumulative oppressive power of the capitalist to exploit the scarcity-value of capital.”
By rentier class, he meant the people who live off the earnings of their savings and capital. They don’t have to do anything but watch their bank accounts grow, he said. This is because they are holding on to so much in the form of savings and high-earning capital that they can stop creating, working, or caring much about anything. End that with zero interest rates and you create a magic world of prosperity for everyone….