The Price of Peace is Zachary Carter’s look at the life and ideas of economist John Maynard Keynes. While economics can often be a boring subject, I found The Price of Peace to be an important, educational read.
After reading the Price of Peace, I can say I have a lot of respect for Keynes. Clearly, his ideas do not get the credit they deserve. Reading the book, I was once again angered by the sad reality that what is good for the world is often overlooked and/or misrepresented to benefit the rich and powerful. The way Carter used the misrepresentation and distortion of Keynes’s ideas to educate about the terrible choices made by both Democrats and Republicans was really interesting. By the end of the book, I had lost even more respect for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
What I liked most about Keynes is the way he was constantly seeking answers. He wasn’t afraid to reject the dogma of the day when he found it lacking. When his own ideas were proven wrong, he was willing to adjust.
At the beginning of his career, Keynes largely believed government should leave the economy alone. At the end of his life, Keynes championed such critical reforms as the creation of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.
Sadly, Keynes’s idea that government should spend until there was real full employment, social programs worked, and everyone had the ability to enjoy the arts has been forgotten. The wealthy and the corporations simply couldn’t allow government to work for the people.
The Price of Peace is an excellent read for anyone wanting to understand how and why the worlds economies have been destroyed by the American government at the behest of America’s corporations. But if you are wedded to either political party you will have to set aside your tribalism to fully appreciate Keynes and his ideas.