Those fabled predictions of JM Keynes that technology would allow a four-hour working day and the opportunity for productive leisure seem further away than ever.
Jenkins' political experience may be slim, but veteran Labour figures think his presence has been key to the Milton Keynes South campaign.
The American campaigner Arnie Graf, who is credited with Barack Obama's movement-like presidential campaign in 2008, has visited Milton Keynes several times to train young activists, some of whom attended a Labour party summer school last August.
The big issues on the doorstep here are the size of Milton Keynes hospital (it is full to bursting), a chronic shortage of doctors, school standards and childcare.
Indeed, in the absence of effective policy, that's how recovery eventually happens: as Keynes put it, a slump goes on until "the shortage of capital through use, decay and obsolescence" gets firms spending again to replace their plant and equipment.
I've waited a week to see whether any members of the pontificating classes take any further interest in the inquest held in Milton Keynes last Friday.
In the well-pruned streets of Milton Keynes, there are few outward signs of a fierce electoral "ground war".
Three-quarters of voters in Milton Keynes South say they have been contacted by Labour – by leaflet, a phone call or a canvassing visit – compared with 43% for the Tories.
