This conflict between Keynes and the Treasury, odd when one considers that Keynes was a Treasury advisor throughout this period, was exacerbated in 1929 when Keynes, with Hubert Henderson, produced the pamphlet "Can Lloyd George Do It?" in response to Liberal politician David Lloyd George's much-discussed proposals in a prior pamphlet called "We Can Conquer Unemployment." In his assessment of George's proposals, Keynes "first adumbrated the … relation of saving to investment." That is, he argued that saving doesn't drive investment if "investment is free to fluctuate under the influence of expectations" such that income and employment adjust to the ex post level of saving. As a consequence, government should "fill the gap/prime the pump" by spending money that business is sitting on because of uncertainty about the future.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 333