Reads 1312-28, 1337->1440 within 10 minutes,18:12 29, 1871->2206=335, within 20 minutes;10:55->11:15,31,Mar.2467->2601=134 8:00-8:08 am,1, 2611->2946=335,within 9 minutes; 9:29-9:38am,Apr.1, 3232->3295,15:48 pm；Apr.1, 3304-3639=335,17:28->17:37pm,Apr.1,3737->4072=335,7:15->7:38 am, Apr.2,2023
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A friendly request:
The numbers of readers in this topic has jumped hundreds from 2611->2946= 335, within 9 minutes 9:29->9:38 am, April 1, 2023; I guessed that it is due to that some Professors email the link of this topic to own students; please leave a contact through my Facebook; I would like to write some topic according to the needs of teaching.
https://www.facebook.com/people/Frank-Li/100015909153472
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China's ancient governing thoughts plant modern economics and distorted as idiot idea of liberty & free world
Frank (Hongde) Li, Mar. 26. 2023 , Waterloo, Canada
https://blog.creaders.net/user_blog_diary.php?did=NDU4Njg5
This is a adding-revised excerpt from Mar. 1, 2008 article To Make Possible from Impossible by Breaking the Shackles of Dogmatic.
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Special Note:
For well understanding this topic; at first we have to understand human nature. Human is inborn selfish instinct and tend to behave according to self preffered accord; so that human nature is too complexity to govern.
In play of 2500 years old of board game Go of China; computer program AlphaGo beats human Go player revealed mechanism of human intelligence; it is acting as the Robot with acquired knowledge as software driver; which means that human intelligence or quality are in lifelong reshaping. The defects in brain structure and the wrong in acquired knowledge will cause wrong in behaving; so that it is not all people in human feature are in human nature; some are in low quality of taking stupid as smart, taking wrong as right and promoting bad for good by inhuman for humane.
From the mechanism of human intelligence; we may make a conclusion that we may definitely say that on this small Earth ball; none of us has properly humanized; but all of us stay in deferent humanized level, and therefore we may conclude that the person who self-believed as world leader is just the one in the state of non-humanized at all.
Humans are inborn selfish instinct; suppose that it is without the selfish instinct, babies would be unable to suck nipples naturally, and human beings would starve to die from birth. If there is no inborn hormone driven sexual attraction between men and women, human beings would be unable to breed. Under such a common inborn nature of human beings, there is no one qualified to be self-confessed as nobler to act as a nobler as global supervisor.
The most of human activities are for selfish concern. The selfish driven survival seeking activities are the basic force in supporting the development of economy and thereby supporting the existence of society. However human selfish behaviors often conflict with social collective interests; and caused human society is difficult to govern; which is the reason that Europeans thoughtfully designed social elements were abused as advanced social cancer.
This is the reason that I said that liberty or freedom and free world are idiot idea; because of; they are in facilitating the free exertion of the dark side of huamn nature.
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China's ancient governing thoughts enlightened the birth of modern economics.
It was the wu wei of Tao Te Ching (China, around 400BC) enlightened the birth of Laissez-Faire, then the Laissez-Faire made British Adam Smith became classical economist by writing economic bible the Wealth of Nations 1776 and by which proposed the term of Invisible Hand, and a century later the Laissez-Faire enlightened British John Keynes proposed the theory of macroeconomics to slam that the time of Laissez-Faire was over by writing The end of laissez-faire in 1926.
By forcing Indians plant opium poppy in India and then military forced selling Opium to China since 1839 to have induced foreign bestial bandits to a century long plunder; burn and kill in China to harm China the most was Briton, but the one who appreciated China the most also was Briton. British journalist and scholar Martin Jacques is the most energetic free trumpeter in touting China is a civilization state of the mostly humanized in human history. Here is another one.
British submarine lieutenant-commander Gavin Menzies (1937- 2020), as career, once visited many countries and shocked by the ancient monuments that left by Zheng He Fleet of China. After retirement, on own spending, he cost 14 years to have researched on Ming treasure Voyages by visiting historic sites of 120 countries and more than 900 libraries, museums and archives. Then accordingly wrote books 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (2002) and 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance (2008).
In the book, Mr. Gavin Menzies appreciated the practice of Zheng He Fleet with 7 times around the world, besides fair trade, did not carry out colonial ruling. He wrote that, in 1434, a Chinese fleet arrived in Tuscany Italy and presented the pope with a large amount books, from a diverse range of fields: geography, astronomy, mathematics, art, printing, architecture, steel manufacturing, civil engineering, military weaponry, surveying, cartography, and more. The knowledge of China sparked the inventiveness of the Renaissance to have formed the basis of European civilisation. From that date onward, Europeans embraced Chinese ideas, discoveries, and inventions.
In Chapter 15 – Leonardo da Vinci and Chinese inventions, Mr. Gavin Menzies wrote that, In my youth, Leonardo da Vinci seemed the greatest genius of all time: an extraordinary inventor of every sort of machine, a magnificent sculptor, one of the world’s greatest painters and the finest illustrator and draughtsman who ever lived. Then, as my knowledge of Chinese inventions slowly expanded, more and more of Leonardo’s inventions appear to have been invented previously by the Chinese. I began to question whether there might be a connection – did Leonardo learn from the Chinese?
Mr. Gavin Menzies wrote that Da Vinci drew all the essential components of machines with extraordinary clarity – showing how toothed wheels, gear wheels and pinions were used in mills, lifting machines and machine tools. All these devices had been used in China for a very long time. In the Tso Chuan are illustrations of bronze ratchets and gear wheels from as early as 200 BC which have been discovered in China.
What describes by Mr. Gavin Menzies turned out historical scandal that the one of the greatest admirable inventor and painter so far Leonardo Da Vinci who was a copycat that became famous by plagiarizing the arts of ancient Chinese people.
Also since 1400s, European missionaries continuously enter China and they translate the culture of China back home to have triggered great response and discussion throughout the Europe and enlightened the development of modern economics; also triggered Renaissance, Enlightenment and French Revolution by a genetic hobby of bloody killing to push Europe entered the new Dark Ages with new type of beast play.
It said that at that time, the government of China did not restrict the missionary activities of missionaries. However, in order to brainwash the believers of China, the missionaries did not allow believers to respect Confucius and worship their ancestors. As a result, the believers were furious, drove away the missionaries, and burned the church. Later, the Pope in Europe decreed that the believers of China were allowed to respect Confucius and worship their ancestors. However, Christianity has not become popular in China. Because of, God can't compete with Confucius and Chinese ancestors in the mind of people of China.
In 1700s, French Physiocrat François Quesnay (1694–1774) was called as "Confucius of Europe." In 1767, he once wrote book Le Despotisme de la Chine, by which describes Chinese politics and society, and his own political support for enlightened despotism. He also coined the economic idea Laissez-Faire according to the term wu wei of Tao Te Ching.
Later the laissez-faire inspired British classical economist Adam Smith writing economic bible the Wealth of Nations to publish in 1776 and proposed the term of Invisible Hand, and later the Invisible Hand was further advocated as lawless Neoliberalism that advocates to cut off all of the supervisions of Government.
Until this day, the manmade financial and economic disasters were derived from the demons play under the support of the Neoliberalism.
Then the doctrine Laissez-Faire as enlightenment begets macroeconomist British John Keynes to have written The end of laissez-faire in 1926; and the ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Keynes advocates that government must be intervention in market or economy by regulating interest rates and investments stimulate economic development.
Then the idea of macroeconomics contributed to the Roosevelt’s New Deal, by which saved the economy from the Great Depression (1929–1939).
In Tao Te Ching, the word wu means none, and wei means ability, capability or the accomplishment from action; so that the term wu wei means that government must reduce the excessive harassment on the livelihood of people, for example, reduce excessive taxation, avoid arbitrary assignment of labor and so on; which was a government could do in the ancient backward agricultural economy. This was not as complicated as the West clamoring in today.
Laissez-faire Wikipedia gave explanation:
1... Laissez-faire is a type of economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or transfer payments). The markets should naturally be competitive with the aims of maximizing freedom by allowing markets to self-regulate. In the mid-18th century, the laissez-faire capitalism emerged.
2... As a system of thought, laissez-faire rests on the following axioms: "the individual is the basic unit in society, i.e. the standard of measurement in social calculus; the individual has a natural right to freedom; and the physical order of nature is a harmonious and self-regulating system."
The humanized idea wu wei dehumanized as idiot idea of freedom and free world
The humanized governing thoughts wu wei of Tao Te Ching was evil used to gave birth of the lawless idea of liberty or freedom and free world by given wu wei greater mission that individual is the basic unit in society with a natural right to freedom; and the physical order of nature is a harmonious and self-regulating system.
Please look at France; where their people are deadly fighting against their government for the delay retirement age. For coping with oncoming aging society, delay retirement age is the only option, and all of countries have to follow. Obviously, it was the lawless idea of liberty or freedom in playing their holy role.
The bloody genetic hobby of the Europeans is at strong ability in dreaming beautiful fantasies; but they have no ability for considering about the consequence of social effects good or bad; so that the bloody genes Europeans have strong ability to turn good as bad and turn humane as inhuman to harm human life.
People may question that why China is developed outstanding as a lighthouse and pusher of modern civilization; I tell you that it is because of China selects properly humanized outstanding people as officials performing social governance since ancient time, includes foreigners.
Italian missionary, Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) hired as artist at imperial court for three Qing emperors; as one of the designers of Old Summer Palace bejing. British Sir Robert Hart (1835-1911); at his 26 years old took charge of Imperial Maritime Custom Service of Qing Dynasty for 50 years and he hired hundreds Britons as assistants; established and governed China's modern postal and Government authorized him behalf of China in foreign negotiations.
The officials of China trusted British Sir Hart as own countryman and Sir Hart was also regarded China as own country. Please look at his heart touching writings during the middle time of 100 years humiliation of China was suffering the beast looting, killing and burning by the Western allied countries and they evilly tamed Japanese.
In book "These from the land of Sinim." Essays on the Chinese question 1911, Sir Hart made a prediction that “China must henceforth become a military power. There will be much floundering and many mistakes and catastrophes, but sooner or later, the state will be emerge healthy, strong, and experienced, and in possession of what the world forces on her-military strength; and since it must be had, she will eventually have it of best-the best arms, the most suitable drill, the highest education, and soldiers in such numbers as population permits and circumstances require, and of such quality as physique, morale, and training will in the course of generations provide.”
In book, Sir Hart specially recorded that “To-day, in order to punish China for the Boxer doings of last year, the West, among other things, is prohibiting the importation of arms. In this connection said a scion of a great family to me: ’Very good-this forces us to become producers. Now, mark me, in due time we ourselves will be exporters; not only that, but underselling present manufacturers!’”
Today, the prediction of British man Sir Hart on the development of China has become exact true; because of, as trustful friend long lived in China; British Sir Hart perfectly understood the quality of people of China from soul.
As continuation from ancient; today China is still in Technocratic Democracy by selecting outstanding entrepreneurs; scholars and the quality ordinaries from working class as lawmakers as part time in self-reliance; the top leadership is a politburo of 7 members that gradually promoted from grassroots by practice proved quality politically and personally without collective consensus from meeting; no one talks at will; thus avoided the harm of personal dictatorship and ensured social governance in collective wisdoms.
In comparison; the West seems doing nothing good, besides endlessly doing mad.
Human society establishing government is for creating people a livable society by high quality people suppressing the wrongful behaviors of low quality people; however, since ancient time to this day; in West; the power of government used as gift for competing of people in any quality. Now the democratic players worked as professional attackers looking for attacks, and recklessly jump around like apes to mess other countries to squander people's subsistence money or life-saving money without blinking an eye; and by using their mouths shoot cannonballs, and by their saliva fight verbal wars on the arguments of useless values and toxic ideologies; but never talk about how to make own people live a prosperous life; by such a brainless play make own country and the world as mess as that of bubbling boiler.
People had been distorted cognitive function by the universality of Western culture; so that they are unable to think about that why oneself has to spend own hard earned money to feed so many social garbage ruining own life.
April 12, 2020, the History of Oxford University humanized two outstanding media professionals, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News Dr. John Micklethwait and the political editor of the Economist Dr. Adrian Wooldridge jointly published article The Virus Should Wake Up the West to have disappointedly signed, “The pandemic reveals that key institutions in Europe and the U.S. are no longer up to the job.”
Since Hobbes’s time, it was China rather than Europe was the center of administrative excellence that peopled by scholar-mandarins who were selected from across a vast empire by rigorous examinations; “while Europe was a bloodstained battlefield ruled by rival feudal families; where government jobs were either allotted by birth or bought and sold like furniture.” ”When the Chinese invented gunpowder they used it for fireworks; Europeans used it to blow one another (and then the Chinese) out of the water.”
This is the reason that human beings stay in the Law of Jungle and go toward more inhuman way.
Please look at France, Germany and many other great democracies; where their people are madly fighting against their government without care about paralyzed social operation; which is from the great thought that overthrowing government without bleedshed at any time is a truly humanized civilization of a mad thought from the mad ancient to mad this day. All in all, mad people can only take stupid as smart.
European looting and killing life made mad civilization made mad citizen with mad brains made mad thoughts that are good at doing mad things. Please look at that the Invisible Hand was madly advocated as mad lawless Neoliberalism that madly advocates to cut off all of the supervisions of Government; then it madly helps mad greedy people madly making disasters by mad greedy plays.
The soaring price of life necessaries promoted inflation is caused by the shortage of the supplies or greedy hoarding. However, the lunatic madmen still use the mad way to control the inflation by madly raising interest rates, and the result was in mad counterproductive. It further madly stifled the supplies of essential necessaries for life, further madly deteriorated inflation, and madly stifled the heath development of economy.
Wars plunder, financial plunder and economic plunder are the foundation for the West in prosperity. Now, the mad Neoliberalism made mad developed fianancial economy out of control and the mad unreasonable financial sanctions plunder, have made the mad West lost the credit or trust of the basic foundation for the suevival of financial system. Mad people madly self-castration made mad West going on the mad suicidal path.
In West; there were people, who have questioned that Keynes did not contribute to the Roosevelt’s New Deal, because of his The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (General Theory) published in 1936, at that time, the New Deal has primarily saved the economy already. If we go on this way of thinking, it was that seems the achievements of New Deal to have fully contributed to the General Theory. Therefore, Keynes was certainly a copycat that is not only lack of talent, but also lack of moral.
This phenomenon shows that people are accustomed going into the dogmatic trap. They can only see the surface of things, but can not make deep research into the substances. I firmly believed that lthough Keynes had no direct suggestion for New Deal, however, he was the father of New Deal actually. The reason is that long before the New Deal put into practice, he had put forward the recommendations that Government should intervene in economy. Such as:
In 1919 in Economic Consequences of the Peace he started to publish his theories. After WWI, Keynes tried to reduce the huge reparations demanded by the Allies against Germany; he argues that Europe could not prosper without an equitable, effective and integrated economic system, which was impossible by the economic terms of the treaty.
In 1924 in Monetary Reform he advocated the Government to control the economy by currency, which was through suitable inflation to stabilize prices and production levels.
In 1926 he published The end of laissez-faire to have publicly rejected the Laissez-faire principle for the free market. His view should be considered as theoretical foundation of New Deal in some extent, especially ideological preparation.
In 1929 he suggested British Liberal Party to run the election campaign by advocating the government-run public works (such as, roads, residential construction, the implementation of electrification, land reclamation, etc.) to overcome the problem in unemployment.
In 1930, in Treatise on money he proposed to control the economy by regulating the interest rates.
His above ideas were partially appeared in the New Deal.
In my view, the greatest contribution of Keynes was not the General Theory but The end of laissez-faire (The End), because it was the ideological foundation for General Theory. Though his former recommendations were far away from detailed steps that applied in the New Deal, however they acted as the pharos to show the correct direction that Government must intervene of the economy directly rather than let it unbridled free developing.
In past 154 years before New Deal, the market was controlled by Invisible Hand that advocated by Adam Smith in his famous book The Wealth of Nations published in 1776 firstly. This doctrine has been strongly advocated by some interest groups under greedy purpose, the government had to have abandoned the effective regulation on market. Laissez-faire market has led to many insurmountable economical problems. In this context, Keynes wrote The End.
In The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (General Theory) 1936, John Keynes introduced the planned economy into the free market economy of Adam Smith.
Keynesian theory helped the United States to have gotten out of the Great Depression and refreshed the economic strength, thereby to accelerate the end of World War II. But after decades of development, there some new economic problems were emerged and accumulated up again. Then United States and Britain took the new reforms by reducing the share of planned economy under the lead of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
In Britain, the home county of Keynes and Adam Smith has suffered the processes from original private ownership to be nationalized, and then from state-owned ownership to be privatized again. As a veteran of the capitalist countries, although, in the stage of nationalized, the United Kingdom should belong to the socialist country, however, it seemed no one to doubt its nature of capitalism until now. Its capitalist cocoon was too thick to see the essence clearly.
They have early established a social welfare system that seems a part of the communist society. However, things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme. Abundant social welfare seems to have bred people to love ease and detest work; idleness can deplete any amount of fortune. Once to be envied social welfare now is developed too heavy to burden. Then Prime Minister David Cameron was wisely ongoing new reforms to save Britain by cutting down the public expenditure, including the social welfare.
Many facts have showed that some of politicians were acting as dogmatists, only follow outdated doctrine or the old ruts from one extreme to another, and cannot flexibly adjust the direction according to the practical circumstances.
Here, there is necessary to talk a little more about Keynes because he was less dogmatic thinking with the spirit of bold questioning - why and how to fight against outdated doctrines, it could help us to advance the way of thinking, and avoid to fall into the trap of dogmatism, it is the prerequisite to do anything correctly.
Keynes is widely considered to be the father of modern macroeconomics.
“In 1999, Time magazine included Keynes in their list of the 100 most important and influential people of the 20th century, commenting that; "His radical idea that governments should spend money they don't have may have saved capitalism.”
In the annual American Economic Association meetings 1999, Keynes won the greatest economist of the 20th century. Because that he “revolutionized the economics profession by contending that the free-market economy is inherently unstable and requires government intervention (through deficit spending, progressive taxation and monetary inflation) to keep it on the path of full employment.”
There is a comment in Mandarin on a Website of China, said that, Western capitalist countries have taken Keynesian macro economics as a general policy. The history has stepped into the Keynesian era. The macroeconomics created by Keynes has developed into an independent discipline. Moreover, Keynes also contributed to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Now, let us join with the Keynes to experience his anxious concern that happened in so far away but feel as happened in yesterday by reading some of his comments in <The End>.
“These many elements have contributed to the current intellectual bias, the mental make-up, the orthodoxy of the day. The compelling force of many of the original reasons has disappeared but, as usual, the vitality of the conclusions outlasts them. To suggest social action for the public good to the City of London is like discussing the Origin of Species with a bishop sixty years ago. The first reaction is not intellectual, but moral. An orthodoxy is in question, and the more persuasive the arguments the graver the offence. Nevertheless, venturing into the den of the lethargic monster, at any rate I have traced his claims and pedigree so as to show that he has ruled over us rather by hereditary right than by personal merit.”
“The average man averts his attention from the problem, and has no clear idea what he really thinks and feels about the whole confounded matter.” “Confusion of thought and feeling leads to confusion of speech.”
Above, Keynes pointed out the absurd phenomena in 80 years ago, the public were being impacted by something without reasonable ground or something that legitimacy have been lost long time ago.
Clearly, the intention of Keynes was toward broad scope beyond economics. In fact, it still is the common phenomenon even more severe in today, in the 80 years later. Please look around, there are many things have lost the real reasons of existence, the reasons have solemnly entered their graves after completed their missions in long time ago, but they are still alive and still a strong influence on our daily life, or even determine our destiny. For example, today, the original motivations of some constitutions’ establishing were gone away for a long time, and the objective circumstances for making those constitutions have entirely changed already, however, those constitutions have still been used to suppress public will and even harm public interest without any modification.
We should question that whether we are too ignorant or stupid, so that we honestly accepts the control of some thing died already. Why do those dead doctrines not rot and still alive triumphantly? How do their vitality being well maintained? The only reason is that some people need them and continue to make them in fancy-dressing to deceive us believing those doctrines still alive. All in all, although the lives of those doctrines had long been ended, but they can not sleep in their grave as they should be. They are being used to control public, both spiritual and material with achieving the conspiring objectives of the small group people.
For coping with Financial Crisis of 2007–2010, it said that it was only next to Great Depression in severity, the economic tools that Keynes left to us seem to have all been used, but the effect seems less obvious than that of in solving the Great Depression. So, some people may ask that, is the brilliant of Keynes' thought fading?
It is absolutely not. Today, the development of economy has far exceeded the expectations of Keynes. Compared with that of in 1930, the volume of world economy and stock market has increased great many times with many uncontrollable and although are controllable but not well controlled factors are acting as terrible specter in harming with the economy.
On the other hand, the instruments of Government intervention in the economy proposed by Keynes was mainly by guidance and stimulus without the restrictions, it is not enough for the unreasonable components in nowadays market, such as, huge amount of international hot money that was considered to had triggered 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the newly developed irrational financial instruments – derivatives that was considered to be an important trigger of the Financial Crisis of 2007–2010. They are the terrible threats to trigger more economic disaster and are what we must properly regulate but hardly strive in today.
Although Keynes did not left formulas that are suitable for solving the problems in today’s economy, but he left us with a universal formula that is his most shining part of his thought – the shining core, a core that implied but clearly being indicated in
Keynes’ spirit of doubt and question against old doctrines possesses universal significance. Only after breaking the shackles of traditional, the wings of imagination could be expanded to fly freely in the expanse of the sky. Only after breaking the constraint of dogmatism, the gate of free thinking could be opened; the effective solutions would be produced and any thorny problems could be solved at present and in future.
The progress of human civilization in the wealth of ideological and spiritual is important than that of in the wealth of material. Without the guidance of the correct philosophy, human being would never be able to enjoy true material civilization. Human would never get rid of the fatuity or the nature of the beast, looting and killing, endlessly making the disasters with advanced skill to do these indirectly in bloodless but more powerful. Therefore, in
Keynes is very different with us ordinary people. He is sober and methodical when most of us are drowsy or panic. He has seemed to stand on the height of three-dimensional with the eyes as eagle’s to observe us who like ants to strive for essential daily livings, even fighting each other in a two-dimensional world. His main concern was how to protect us to be able to long-term enjoy life without disturbing.
Compared with Keynes, we would be aware the reason, the reasons that we are just blindly being believed rather than brainy self-convinced, the reason that we always blindly follow others and being manipulated, the reason that we can not control self destiny, and always act as a victim exposed to the front of any disasters that most of them were man-made.
Keynes might have foreseen that the market running under entirely free does not work, sooner or later would make trouble. When people are still scheming, with a variety of sounds reasonable grounds to maintain the free market economy, Keynes had prepared ahead. He was doing preparation in public ideology. Perhaps because of his early thoughts on the government intervention of the economy was not being ideally implemented, or there are necessary to intensify. Because he was clearly aware that, in the most of cases, for doing some things, the greatest resistance comes from the public conservative consciousness, from the shackles of traditional，blind faith, blind worship, blind superstition and some dogmatic bias. The most difficult task firstly is to break down those bondages. Therefore, it is the choice that should do or should not do? Dared do or dared not do? It is the why rather than the how. It is just like Keynes indicated in the last paragraph, “The next step forward must come, not from political agitation or premature experiments, but from thought.”
The review for Keynes will stop here. You may ask that what the contribution of President Roosevelt is? So next I must clarify the relationship between him and Keynes.
No one would doubt that, as a politician, Roosevelt was excellent. He dared bravely intervene in the economy with state apparatus by taking the risk of breaking the iron rule that Government should not intervene in economy, which was his predecessors strictly adhered. The success of New Deal has showed that he was outstanding in personality. His relationship with Keynes, I think, should be that, Keynes put forward a rough idea of Government should intervene in the economy, then Roosevelt and his copartners to make the vision into action. Also they made some expansion and refinement according to the actual problems that were continuously emerging. In turn, their successful experiences from practical trial and error gave Keynes inspiration to make his macroeconomics perfect.
Maybe you would continuously ask that why does people so respect Keynes. This needs to review Adam Smith.
