September 22, 2018 Saturday
Bedtime Story
Versailles 1919 Shapes Keynes
The mathematician and the clerk that I was
talking about last night was none other than the legendary British economist
John Maynard Keynes.
Keynes consistently rose up the ranks of
British bureaucracy more specifically in the Treasury with his advice been
sought by the Treasury time and again both formally and informally.
Probably his life-changing moment came in
1919 when he was appointed the financial representative for the Treasury to the
now historical 1919 Versailles peace conference.
Keynes in Paris was unable to press his
ideas upon the powerful players at Versailles (he was largely ignored and
perhaps even ridiculed by some from his own country who were there) and yet the
events that unfolded in Paris had profound impact in shaping his ideas of
economic theories.
It can safely be said with near-certainty
that had his advice been taken seriously on the matter of treatment of Germany
with regards to compensatory payment following its defeat in World War I the
rise of Hitler, Nazism as an ideology and the tragic World War II could have
been prevented.
The key players at the Versailles were the
French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, the US President Woodrow Wilson, the
Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando (he had actually little say in the
matters of German reparations) and the Prime Minister of Britain Lloyd George.
Keynes had access and some influence only
on this last character of these main players.
While Keynes was all for leniency towards
Germany he faced a very strong opposition from two men of his own British
delegate at the Versailles.
These two lords were the Judge Lord Sumner
and the Banker Lord Cunliffe nicknamed ‘Heavenly Twins’ who along with the
Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes sought extraction of ‘astronomically’
large war compensation and strongly opposed Keynes.
The opposition from these two came along
with a personal condescending rebuke mocking Keynes with the title of “Herr von
K” which is something like calling a Hindu “Pakistani” during warring times.
Keynes argues that the war compensation of
Germany if kept high would traumatize German people, damage the nation’s
ability to pay, kill its ability to import and would ruin not only German
economy but would have a negative impact
about the world economy as well.
Keynes further feared that imposing harsh
post war conditions on Germany would foment rise of extremism.
Keynes personal plan was to actually aid
Germany and the other impoverished central European powers by radically writing
down the war debts which would have a positive impact on the international
trade since for him aggregate consumption was crucial factor in the growth of
any economy.
But in that post war frenzy and demand for
retribution his minority opinion of intellectual reasoning and sanity was
suppressed by the voices demanding penalty against the enemy nations.
The final nail on the coffin for Keynes
proposal came through the US President Woodrow Wilson.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling chimpanzee
or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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