John Kenneth Galbraith

b. Oct. 15, 1908 - d.April 30, 2006

I saw this quote by John Kenneth Galbraith and thought it was worth repeating here:
"Under capitalism man exploits man; under communism it's just the opposite."
We got to hear Dr. Galbraith speak way back in the late 1980's when my career in finance first started and my wife was teaching at a private university in Indiana. Well - I have to say that he presented the argument that social and cultural values and the resulting political structures are a result of economic necessity. For instance, slavery was no longer tolerated when it was no longer needed, not before.
When we heard his presentation on politics and social values being a function of economic factors, I agreed with him through his speech up until his conclusion regarding the need for government involvement and his devotion to Keynesian Economics. While I still don't agree with him on this point, I have softened to understand his above quote regarding economic systems consisting of man exploiting man, which makes me appreciative ofa government that will act as a referee and require a certain semblence of fair play and balance. Am I looking for a perfect system? No, just a workable one.
When I look at the current global economy and downward pressure on wages and job security, and the upward pressure on productivity, Galbraith's thesis seems to come full circle and accurately describe what is occuring now in the US and other Western countries.
If you take the argument on immigration regarding hiring people to do jobs American's won't or you use the argument that we need this cheap labor to compete globally, ignoring the myriad of social issues involved: healthcare, living wage issues, standard of living, job safety, job security, you are left with the extension of this argument being the same ones used to justify slavery at one time in our nation's history. This does seem to be economic necessity driving cultural values and political decisions (laws).
There are now work lines for day workers - you show up at a predetermined location - the person needing labor looks over the crowd and picks out the workers for that day. This is reminiscent of what went on at the mills, mines, and factories in this country prior to unionization and the Roosevelt administration.

Organized labor's influence and membership is greatly reduced.

Many Americans find it acceptable to retain undocumented workers - based on the reason that they can't compete otherwise.

Many of us expect our own personal economic conditions to worsen in the future - job security is a simple delusion as is retirement.

A too large percentage of Americans have come to realize that health care is not available to them


Is this what we want for America - a class based society with a permanent underclass of near indentured servants? An America with a reduced unstable middle class that can only move downward - seldom upward socioeconomically? I don't think so. I think the NeoCons behind these ideas need to relocate to one of the Latin America countries where they will feel much more comfortable - instead of building one here.
As a member of the middle class, I feel that there is a concerted attack on my standard of living by businesses run by undeservedly rich CEOs and their minions in congress and their champions in the White House. So, not to get in the way of an oncoming train we personally are downsizing, increasing our skillsets and adaptability, accelerating our work pace when most people our age are slowing down, and we are paying much less attention to the "conventional wisdom". There it is the term attributed to Galbraith - "Conventional Wisdom". He was a contrarian and asked us to think past the first level of thought and to not accept what we were being spoon fed by the government and the press.
How sound an economist was he? I am not qualified to say. It sounds as though pure academic theory and research were not his strengths. But he was there as a voice for decency and responsibility and an educator of the masses. We take for granted now a basic understanding of markets and capitalism. However, this was once not the case - and Galbraith helped the everyman gain some insights and understanding. Surely that will place him in a position of great anomosity from many learned scholars in his field. His loyalty remained to the role of government as a positive and necessary force in economics, even though history appears to have proven otherwise. However, for me, I hold him in high regard as someone who cared about people and this country.