here is Michael Leddy, blogger at Orange Crate Art, that I think of when I come across a sentence so badly written that I have to point it out to someone.

And now there is Lorraine Lee, blogger at In Defense of Anagorism, that I think of when I come across something on the stages of capitalism, something subtle that catches me off guard or opens my eyes a little wider.

Yeah I read it before, 20 times before, probably. But this time I read it after talking about Late Stage Capitalism, and something clicked. Suddenly there was a reason for the subtle details to be there.

In Chapter 23 of The General Theory, Keynes writes:

“Locke was the parent of twin quantity theories… But — standing with one foot in the mercantilist world and with one foot in the classical world[11] — he was confused concerning the relation between these two proportions…”

In footnote 11, Keynes writes:
“Hume a little later had a foot and a half in the classical world…”

I think this “one foot” versus “a foot and a half” is a detail Keynes uses to show that he is comfortable thinking in terms of the stages of capitalism. I think he wanted us to know it.

To appreciate the subtle detail, it may help to remember that a reporter once asked Keynes if anything like the Great Depression had ever happened before. Yes,” Keynes replied. “It was called the Dark Ages and it lasted 400 years.” That was related, and relevant, but not subtle. But then, Dark Ages are never subtle.

Keynes quotes Hume from his 1752 book. Note that 24 years after 1752, Adam Smith took that last half-step, and wrote the book that not only gave mercantilism a name but also moved on from it.

Chapters 23 and 24 are the very best part of The General Theory, and I never tire of reading them.

But it was only during this most recent read that I figured out why Keynes went out of his way to talk about “one foot in the mercantilist world and with one foot in the classical”.
And that’s because you brought up late-stage capitalism, Lorraine. Thank you.