Military Keynesianism today: An innovative discourse

Race and Class

Volumn 51, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 79-94

  Custers, Peter ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Arms trade; John Maynard Keynes; Military industrial complex; Multiplier; Stationary state

Indexed keywords

EID: 77950668595     PISSN: 03063968     EISSN: 17413125     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0306396810363049     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Michal Kalecki, 'Stimulating the business upswing in Nazi Germany [1935] in Michal Kalecki, The Last Phase in the Transformation of Capitalism (New York, Monthly Review Press, 1972), p. 65.
2. Peter Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism: nuclear and military production and critical economic theory (New Delhi/London, Tulika Books/Merlin Press, 2007).
3. See, for example, Virginie Malingre, 'M. Brown Tourne le Dos au New Labour, Le Monde (29 November 2008).
4. For Keynes s theory of the multiplier, see John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Orlando, FL, Harvest/Harcourt, 1964), chapters 8-10, p. 89
5. Dudley Dillard, The Economics of John Maynard Keynes: the theory of a monetary economy (Crosby Lockwood & Sons Ltd, London, 1956), chapter 5. Keynes estimated that the average multipliers for the US and UK economies were between 21/2 and 3.
6. Keynes, General Theory, op. cit., p.113
7. Dillard, Economics of Keynes, op. cit., p. 75.
8. Keynes s conceptualisation of categories of industries was close to Karl Marx s 'Departments of Production and he spoke of the two categories of'investment industries and'consumption industries. See Keynes, General Theory, op. cit., pp. 118-122
9. Dillard, Economics of Keynes, op. cit., p. 99, For commonalities between Keynes s and Marx s theory of money
10. Prabhat Patnaik, The Value of Money (New Delhi, Tulika Books, 2008)
11. Keynes, General Theory, op. cit., p. 129.
12. Ibid, p.130.
13. Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, op. cit., p. 147.
14. My conceptualisation of'productive and'unproductive activities differs from that of the classical economists since I insist on the sustenance of life as a necessary condition in classifying industrial activities as 'productive. Ibid., p. 82.
15. Dillard, Economics of Keynes, op. cit., pp. 75, 102. According to Dillard: 'The multiplier theory is not pump priming. The latter rests on the assumption that a temporary new expenditure will have a lasting tendency to raise the level of economic activity, whereas the multiplier theory assumes that the income generating effects of the new expenditure will continue only as long as the expenditure is present, working with some time lag. Although Keynes did at one time believe in the pump priming hypothesis, he passed beyond that stage when he wrote his General Theory. (p. 106) Thus, Dillard s distinction between pump priming and (longer term) multiplier effects is relevant to my discussion of military Keynesianism.
16. Peter Custers, 'The 2008 US recession, military Keynesianism and the wars in the Middle East, Countercurrents.org (30 October, 2008),
17. For her critique of economic science s narrow view of the capitalist system as a'closed system, see Rosa Luxemburg, The Accumulation of Capital (New York, Monthly Review Press, 1964).
18. Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, op. cit., pp. 324, 369.
19. Eric Leser,'Les Commandes Publiques, une Manne Inesperee pour la Silicon Valley, Le Monde (19 March 2003), p. 21. According to Leser s data, the Pentagon s share of IBM's orders had risen to 25 per cent and Silicon Graphics sales to the Pentagon had, within a year, increased from 20 to 35 per cent of the company s total.
20. Chalmers Johnson, 'Why the US has really gone broke, Le Monde Diplomatique English Edition (February 2008),
21. 'Going bankrupt: why the debt crisis is now the greatest threat to the American republic, TomDispatch.com (22 January 2008), . Johnson includes several major allocations which are overlooked by other US observers, such as allocations under the Department of Energy for the development of nuclear weapons ($25.3 billion), the fund for war veterans ($75.7 billion), the army retirement fund ($38.5 billion) and interest payments on government bonds issued to pay for past deficits relating to military expenditures ($200 billion).
22. .
23. For Keynes s view that, in the case of the British economy, foreign trade constituted a'leakage on the operation of the multiplier, see Keynes, General Theory, op. cit., p. 120
24. Dillard, Economics of Keynes, op. cit., p. 115. On the export surplus of the US in relation to Europe in the later part of the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth centuries, see Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000 (New York, Vintage Books, 1989), p. 245
25. Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000 (New York, Vintage Books, 1989), p. 245
26. For data on the British share of the world trade in warships at the beginning of the twentieth century, see Clive Trebilcock, The Vickers Brothers: armaments and enterprise, 1854-1916 (London, Europa Publications, 1977), pp. 123-4.
27. Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Annual Industrial Capability Report (Washington DC, Pentagon, February 2006)
28. Defense exports play an important economic role in strengthening the US defense industrial base; 'about 20 per cent of US weapon systems items are exported; 'sales to foreign customers have frequently been critical to keeping entire production lines open'
29. The US giant Lockheed Martin has, amongst others, developed a partnership with BAE Systems in connection with the US s Joint Strike Fighter programme and in connection with the US s missile defence system. Boeing has secured a joint venture with Thales. Northrop Grumman has taken over the Germany-based submarine constructer Howaltswerke and has developed a joint venture with EADS. Raytheon has linked up with the European armament corporation Thales in a joint venture. General Dynamics has taken over the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch and Spain s Santa Barbara.
30. 'Le Choix d'Airbus par le Pentagon Fait Polemique, Le Monde (4 March 2008).
31. Michel Aglietta, A Theory of Capitalist Regulation: the US experience (London, New Left Books, 1979), p. 239.
32. Mike Davis, 'The pathology of Reagonomics, New Left Review (No. 149, January/February 1985).
33. Susan George,'We must think big, New Scientist (15 October 2008)
34. See also the EuroMemorandum Group's concrete suggestions on climate policy, Democratic transformation of European finance, a full employment regime and ecological restructuring alternatives to finance-driven capitalism(EuroMemorandum, 2008/09),
35. Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, op. cit., p. 51.
36. Karl Marx, Capital: a critique of political economy, vol. two (Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1967), p. 396.
37. John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Books IV and V (London, Penguin Books, 1988), p. 113.
38. James Hansen, 'Twenty years later: tipping points near on global warming, Huffington Post (25 June 2008).
39. One study which picks up a discussion on the 'stationary state or 'steady state economics is Herman E. Daly and Kenneth N. Townsend, eds, Valuing the Earth: economics, ecology, ethics (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1993).
40. Malingre,'M. Brown Tourne le Dos au New Labour, op. cit
41. Valerie Malingre, 'Crise. Londre Annonce un Plan de Baisse d'Impots de 15 Milliards de Livres, Le Monde (5 November 2008)
42. 'Keynes Kijkt Mee', NRC Handelsblad (10 November 2008)
43. Floris van Straaten,'Britse Overheid Wil Geld Uitgeven om Economie Vlot te Trekken. De Theorie van Keynes, NRC Handelsblad (1 November 2008)