Pat is absolutely right. The above quotation is from general theory, left out the last bit: "of course it would be more sensible to build houses and the like, but if there are political and practical difficulties in the way of this the above would be better than nothing." The argument is that the government has the ability to create demand, and it should exercises this ability instead of allowing a country to fall into a depression. Here are the roots of the modern stimulus. But for Conservatives who don't like this idea, remember that keynes came up with the idea that reducing taxes produces greater productivity so you cant say he was all wrong. Same for Marxists, as much as he favored the power of markets (as do most modern socialists) he also saw large roles for government intervention in favor of labor. Who know's if he's right or wrong but he isn't suggesting making people dig through garbage for wads of cash. At one point he also talks about how ancient Egypt only had two industries, which seemed to be pyramid building and finding gold, and that seemed to do alright for them.