Notes & Asides

Dear Mr. Buckley:

The esteemed Dr. Rinfret [Firing Line, August 28] declared that “Keynes said the capitalist system could never reach full equilibrium.” Absolutely wrong. Keynes only suggested that equilibrium need not occur at the point of full employment. From a historical perspective, the Neoclassical paradigm, on one hand, assured automatic full employment equilibrium, while on the other, the Marxist dogma assured automatic disequilibrium. Keynes came along and patched up the capitalist system by introducing into it the mechanism for the disequilibrium that was and is so obvious in real life.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Dear Mr. Buckley:

The esteemed Dr. Rinfret [Firing Line, August 28] declared that “Keynes said the capitalist system could never reach full equilibrium.” Absolutely wrong. Keynes only suggested that equilibrium need not occur at the point of full employment. From a historical perspective, the Neoclassical paradigm, on one hand, assured automatic full employment equilibrium, while on the other, the Marxist dogma assured automatic disequilibrium. Keynes came along and patched up the capitalist system by introducing into it the mechanism for the disequilibrium that was and is so obvious in real life.