“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.” MenGovernmentFunnyPoliticalPoliticsCapitalismOppositesWittyFinanceCommunismCynicismExploitationExploitsPolitical IdeologyFunny Political Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.” GovernmentFormEconomicEconomicsEmploymentEconomistEconomy And EconomicsSupply Side EconomicsHome EconomicsStudying Economics Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“You will find that [the] State [Department] is the kind of organisation which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly too.” KindDoeStatesBigsGovernmentPoliticsKindnessOrganizationBig ThingsSmall Things Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state.” StatesGovernmentWould BeGoalEconomyFoolishAlternativesAestheticCustodians Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“Those who yearn for the end of capitalism should pray for government by men who believe that all positive action is inimical to what they call thoughtfully the fundamental principles of free enterprise.” MenShouldBelieveEndsGovernmentActionPrinciplesPrayingCapitalismFundamentalsEnterpriseFree EnterpriseFundamental Principles Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“Broadly speaking, Keynesianism means that the government has a specific responsibility for the behavior of the economy, that it doesn't work on its own autonomous course, but the government, when there's a recession, compensates by employment, by expansion of purchasing power, and in boom times corrects by being a restraining force. But it controls the great flow of demand into the economy, what since Keynesian times has been the flow of aggregate demand. That was the basic idea of Keynes so far as one can put it in a couple of sentences.” MeanHas BeensIdeasGovernmentCoursesForceResponsibilityEconomyCoupleDemandBehaviorEconomicsFlowSentencesEmploymentExpansionRecessionsAutonomousPurchasingRestrainingKeynesPurchasing PowerKeynesianism Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“If it is dangerous to suppose that government is always right, it will sooner or later be awkward for public administration if most people suppose that it is always wrong.” PeopleIfsGovernmentDangerousAdministrationAwkwardSooner Or LaterAlways Wrong Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“And there was a deeper, less visible effect of the Truman loyalty program. Seeing its consequences for certain individuals and fearing its intrusion on their own lives, many in the government sought protection by strongly asserting their anti-Communism. In the public action that ensued, policy was based not on reality but, instinctively or deliberately, on personal caution...Those who urged a militant and sometimes military anti-Communism were considered sound, trustworthy and personally safe; those who questioned such a course were politically unsafe, possible even slightly disloyal.” SometimesRealityGovernmentActionCertainCoursesIndividualSoundSeeingEffectsMilitaryPolicySafeConsequenceProgramDeeperProtectionLoyaltyCommunismVisibleCautionTrustworthyMilitantIntrusionUnsafeTrumanDisloyalAnti Communism Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“No intelligence system can predict what a government will do if it doesn't know itself.” IfsKnowsGovernment Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“A very complicated mass of things influences the economy - the speculative effect, government policy, consumer borrowing and spending, the level of technical innovation (which I concede, although everyone emphasizes it too much), and much more - including, of course, the rate of inflation.” GovernmentCoursesLevelsEconomyToo MuchInfluenceEffectsPolicyMassInnovationRateIncludingComplicatedSpendingConsumersInflationBorrowingGovernment Policy Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“Nothing so weakens government as persistent inflation.” GovernmentEconomicsInflation Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“In Europe and the United States the two decades following the Second World War will for long be remembered as a very good time, the time when capitalism really worked. Everywhere in the industrialized countries production increased. Unemployment was everywhere low. Prices were nearly stable. When production lagged and unemployment rose, governments intervened to take up the slack, as Keynes had urged.” WorldLongTwoWarCountryStatesGovernmentUnitedUnited StatesLowsCapitalismEuropeRoseVery GoodProductionsFollowingDecadesRememberedWar Of The WorldsGood TimesStableUnemploymentSecond World WarKeynes Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“The contented and economically comfortable have a very discriminating view of government. Nobody is ever indignant about bailing out failed banks and failed savings and loans associations... But when taxes must be paid for the lower middle class and poor, the government assumes an aspect of wickedness.” GovernmentPoorViewsClassMiddleTaxesComfortableAspectPaidAssumingSavingMiddle ClassAssociationWickednessLoanSavingsIndignantBailing Out Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.” LittlesEnoughGovernmentPoliticalPoliticsPresidentSilenceCriticsOfficialsSympathyGovernment Officials Book:A life in our times: memoirs Source: A life in our times: memoirs
“In numerous years following the war, the Federal Government ran a heavy surplus. It could not (however) pay off its debt, retire its securities, because to do so meant there would be no bonds to back the national bank notes. To pay off the debt was to destroy the money supply.” YearsWarGovernmentWould BeMoneyPaySecurityNotesInvestingFollowingHeavyDebtRanRetiringFederal GovernmentSurplus Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“I react pragmatically. Where the market works, I'm for that. Where the government is necessary, I'm for that. I'm deeply suspicious of somebody who says, 'I'm in favor of privatization,' or, 'I'm deeply in favor of public ownership.' I'm in favor of whatever works in the particular case.” GovernmentPoliticalCasesParticularFavorsOwnershipSuspiciousPragmatismPrivatizationWhatever Works Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
“When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against the feeling that the government is not theirs. They then accept, in some measure, that its errors are their errors, its aberrations their aberrations, that any revolt will be against them. It's a remarkably shrewd and rather conservative arrangement when one thinks of it.” PeopleThinkingFeelingsGovernmentPoliticsAcceptingDemocracySocietyErrorsConservativeBoxesArrangementsRevoltBallotsDemocracies HaveAberration Author:John Kenneth Galbraith
