On 11/17/2011 11:40 PM, James C.W. Ahiakpor wrote:
> I asked Alan yesterday to ... appreciate why Keynes would
> say that his theory was "more easily adapted to the
> conditions of a totalitarian state."  Instead, he chose to
> truncate my message and then declare me as having grossly
> misinterpreted Keynes and also asked me to read someone
> else's restatement of Keynes's preface!

I did not suggest reading Schefold for his "restatement".
As I said, if you don't have access to the all of the
relevant paragraph in the German editions (unfortunately,
not fully reproduced in Collected Works), see Schefold's article.
Schefold provides a translation of the key paragraph in the
German edition of the GT. Here is the relevant passage:

     For I confess that much of the following book is
     illustrated and expounded mainly with reference to the
     conditions existing in the Anglo-Saxon countries.
     Nevertheless the theory of output as a whole, which is
     what the following book purports to provide, is much
     more easily adapted to the conditions of a totalitarian
     state, than is the theory of the production and
     distribution of a given output produced under conditions
     of free competition and a large measure of
     laissez-faire.  This is one of the reasons which justify
     my calling my theory a *General* theory.  Since it is
     based on less narrow assumptions than the orthodox
     theory, it is also more easily adapted to a large area
     of different circumstances. Although I have thus worked
     it out having the conditions in the Anglo-Saxon
     countries in view -- where a great deal of laissez-faire
     still prevails -- it yet remains applicable to
     situations in which national leadership is more
     pronounced. For the theory of psychological laws
     relating consumption and saving, the influence of loan
     expenditure of prices and real wages, the part played by
     the rate of interest -- these remain as necessary
     ingredients in our scheme of thought under such
     conditions, too.

So I repeat, you appear to grossly misinterpret Keynes.

Alan Isaac