“(…) it was Montesquieu rather than Voltaire who provided the most important impetus to their studies. Montesquieu was widely regarded as the ‘greatest genius of the present age’ and his _Esprit des Lois_ came to be enjoy a considerable vogue in the circle of Smith’s friends. But while Montesquieu’s work provided an important stimulus, the Historians in general, and Smith in particular, went well beyond the teaching of the master. In the words of one of their number: ‘The great Montesquieu pointed out the road. He was the Lord Bacon of this brand of philosophy. Dr Smith is the Newton.’” (p30) The limitations of the Trias Politica with regards to economics are a well-known theme. Marshall’s “Principles of economics” opens with the painful story of poverty - as Mankiw unfortunately waits till p421. David M. Kennedy (1999:245), “Freedom from Fear; The American people in Depression and War”, quotes Roosevelt in a special message to the US Congress on June 8 1934: “(…) ‘the interdependence of members of families upon each other and of the families within a small community upon each other’ provided fullfillment and security. But those simple frontier conditions now had disappeared. ‘The complexities of great communities and of organized industry makes less real these simple means of security. Therefor, we are compelled to employ the active interest of the Nation as a whole through government in order to encourage a greater security for each individual who composes it.’ The federal government was established under the Constitution, he recollected, ‘to promote the general welfare,’ and it was now government’s ‘plain duty to provide for that security upon which welfare depends’. (…)” 5. The economic record of the 20th century Unemployment and poverty can be seen as indicators for the quality of the management of the state. They are social phenomena, and thus depend upon the rules that society defines. When they exist, then apparently something is wrong with the management. The economic record of this century may be judged with mixed feelings. Much has been achieved, but much has gone wrong too: 1. Two World Wars. 2. The Great Depression 1930 - 1940. 3. The Great Stagflation 1970 - the present (2005). [14] 4. Disputable ways for decolonisation and development co-operation. 5. The economic disaster in Russia and Eastern Europe after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. 6. The environment. Of this record, the wars are the focal points of attention. Wars are disasters for the common citizen. Perhaps wars need to be fought for political reasons, but, an economist can express some doubt. In fact, Keynes wrote his General Theory with an eye to the threat of war: