...on July 5, 1932, The Times of London published a letter to the editor signed by 41 prominent economics professors across the UK, including Keynes. The letter blamed “the great fall in wholesale prices” since 1930 for the most serious evil of the economic crisis.
Although some prices can adjust downward as well as upward in response to supply and demand changes, it was claimed, other prices were “relatively inflexible,” thereby creating “serious maladjustments throughout the economic system.” Those prices that are adjustable, then, need to be raised to where they were before the crisis began.
This could be done by private spending, monetary easing, tax rebates, and public investment...
Under the heading “Fresh Money for Spending,” the letter exhorted private individuals and institutions to assist “by spending money according to their capacity.” The sentence following this passage is explicit about how presumptions about capacity to spend should be set: “In cases of doubt, the patriotic motive should weigh on the side of expenditures rather than economy.” Finally, the government should alleviate the sense of uncertainty that was provoking public fears of inflation by declaring its commitment to this new policy in advance, and not use re-inflation as an excuse to engage in competitive devaluation of the pound, which would worsen the world situation.
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It's easy to refute an argument if you first misrepresent it. William Keizer