The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. —John Maynard Keynes in "Concluding Notes on the Social Philosophy towards which the General Theory might Lead" of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1935)

If Keynes could survey the world's descent into neofeudalism, I wonder what he would say now. Economic ideas are both adaptable and readily disposable, as we have seen in the recent economic decisions of the "market-oriented" Bush administration when vested interests are threatened.

That is not to say that economic ideas are not important but that they are more the offspring than the progenitors of social philosophy.

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