November 1923 Keynes publishes A Tract on Monetary Reform, calling for an end to the Gold Standard. He states that devaluation is preferable to deflation. On the question of whether it is preferable to manage a currency to achieve a stable external value or stable internal prices, Keynes concludes that stable internal prices are preferable.
12 April 1924 British unemployment has reached one million. Lloyd George writes to the Nation demanding the Government should intervene to fund a large program of public works to create jobs.
1924 Keynes becomes First Bursar at King's College, taking control of the College's finances.
24 May 1924 Keynes' Does Unemployment Need a Drastic Remedy? is published in the Nation. He proposes Government capital spending of £100 million per annum to stimulate the economy, specifically spending on housing, roads and electrical power distribution. He further proposes National Savings should be spent on works in Britain rather than invested overseas.
Second Half 1924 Sterling is appreciating on the currency markets. Speculators are buying Sterling anticipating it will rise to its pre-war value when it rejoins the Gold Standard.
November 1924 Keynes gives the Sydney Ball Foundation Lecture at Cambridge. The title he chooses for his lecture is The End of Laissez-Faire and he says:
"I believe that in many cases the ideal size for the unit of control and organisation lies somewhere between the individual and the modern State. I suggest, therefore, that progress lies in the growth and the recognition of semi-autonomous bodies within the State-bodies whose criterion of action within their own field is solely the public good as they understand it, and from whose deliberations motives of private advantage are excluded..."
"One of the most interesting and unnoticed developments of recent decades has been the tendency of big enterprise to socialise itself. A point arrives in the growth of a big institution... at which the owners of the capital, i.e. its shareholders, are almost entirely dissociated from the management, with the result that the direct personal interest of the latter in the making of great profit becomes quite secondary. When this stage is reached, the general stability and reputation of the institution are the more considered by the management than the maximum of profit for the shareholders."
"We must aim at separating those services which are technically social from those which are technically individual... The important thing for government is not to do things which individuals are doing already, and to do them a little better or a little worse; but to do those things which at present are not done at all."
"For my part I think that capitalism, wisely managed, can probably be made more efficient for attaining economic ends than any alternative system yet in sight, but that in itself it is in many ways extremely objectionable. Our problem is to work out a social organisation which shall be as efficient as possible without offending our notions of a satisfactory way of life."
December 1924 By virtue of astute speculation in the financial markets, Keynes's assets have grown from nil (virtual bankruptcy) in May 1920 to £57,797. He has achieved his objective of becoming a wealthy man.
April 1925 Keynes, almost on his own, continues to argue against the Gold Standard. He writes in the Nation of his concerns about the over-valuation of Sterling.
