[Marxism] Who Said "Debauch the Currency": Keynes or Lenin?

[Politicus E.]

Michael, my comment about the article being "odd" was perhaps too
brief.  I was not referring to the contents of the article per se,
rather the oddity that such an article found an outlet in JEP.  No
article that treats Lenin's thought as a serious matter for inquiry
appeared in JEP during the period 1987-2006, for example.

With respect to Jim's comment, Michael is correct but let us bear in
mind the view that nominal wages are sticky but aggregate prices are
not has been held by a long chain of economists and others since
Keynes too.

In accord with this premise is the political conclusion,
held by certain elements of the capitalist class and their
intellectuals, that inflation is an instrument of class warfare that
weakens the working class (under certain conditions), and thus must be
utilized to good effect should the circumstances warrant.  A good
recent example of this political position can be found in an article
by Samuel Brittan (FT, 28 May 2009, 'Inflation can act as a safety
valve'), which concludes "[i]n some circumstances a little bit of
old-fashioned inflation is the best safety valve available [to induce
workers to accept a reduction in the real wage.]"

A number of (centrist, neoclassical synthesis) Keynesian economists
also would defend this position.

epoliticus

-- 
"In the tender annals of Political Economy, the idyllic reigns from
time immemorial ... the present year of course always excepted."
-- A German refugee, circa 1867 --

http://epoliticus.wordpress.com/