I’m working on an obit now of John Kenneth Galbraith, who has died at the age of 97.. I’ll be respectful, but truthful. After all, he did oppose the war in Vietnam. However, he did believe communism to be the superior organization of society.
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/4968/j-k-galbraith-dies/
J.K. Galbraith Dies
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Let us pray for him, because the people who believe in statisim are invariably the ones hurt by it the most. With any hope, he is now at peace in a place free from all coercion.
I commented on the story here:
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/famous-economist-john-kenneth.html
The New York Times, of course, had the most splendid obit possible. Was there ever a longer piece? Of course it had to be long because it featureed another hero: Veblen. But it forgot about Marx.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/obituaries/30galbraith.html?ei=5094&en=5a89320c6fecfb1c&hp=&ex=1146456000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all
I’ve always wondered if statists go to heaven or hell. Most of them wish the best for people but just don’t know the correct ways about achieving desirable ends.
Vedran, they’re already in a ‘workers’ paradise’ while here!
“The New York Times, of course, had the most splendid obit possible. Was there ever a longer piece? Of course it had to be long because it featureed another hero: Veblen. But it forgot about Marx.”
And in another section, they made sure to piss on Jane Jacobs’ grave as thoroughly as they could.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/weekinreview/30jacobs.html
There’s no question that the NY Times is nothing more than a communist mouthpiece.
“After all, he did oppose the war in Vietnam. However, he did believe communism to be the superior organization of society.”
I think the second sentence entirely explains the first.
Select quotes from Mr. Galbraith:
“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” — Apparently entirely ignorant as to the history of communism.
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” — Speaks for itself.
“In the autumn of 1929 the mightiest of Americans were, for a brief time, revealed as human beings.” — Another Keynesian thinking that the stock market crash caused the Great Depression.
Galbraith was no man of peace, even though he opposed US actions against the Vietnamese Communists. He was a raging enthusiast for US intrusion into WWII, and in the Cold War era called for the US invasion of (or, as it was put euphemistically, “military intervention in”) Spain, Greece, and South Africa when those countries had rightist regimes, while advocating cuddling up to the Marxist ones.
It’s said that you may not be interested in politics, but politics in interested in *you*. I don’t care much for speaking ill of the recently departed, but Galbraith was very interested in me. And my family. In our money. And property. And lives.
Sorry if I take that personal.
As far as John Kenneth Galbraith’s understanding and mastery of economic science is concerned, he was a pseudo-economist. Galbraith popularized many of the fallacies that passed for economics and economic history in the second half of the twentieth century.
And like statists of all varieties, he apparently had little moral difficulty with controlling the lives of other individuals.
We should offer a prayer for him because his whole outlook came down to a prayer. That prayer is:
We hope using force and coersion to solve problems will work because we feel better about ourselves that we did something.
The missing line is:
Even if force and coersion fails, we can not be held accountable anyway.
I have no feeelings of remorse about this man’s death. He obviously was to some a pillar of economic intellect. But his policies, at least the one’s that were adopted, proved to be disastrous for the very people he claimed to be benefitting. I hope he rots with the many that have died due to those policies.
This is indeed one of those times time to speak ill of the dead. He lived far too long and did far too much harm. He was the moral equivalent of one who justifies rape, saying of a bashed and raped woman, “She deserved it.”
There are no good statists, not even dead ones.
Sione
“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” — Apparently entirely ignorant as to the history of communism.
Isn’t that quote actually a jab at communism?
Roy,
The quote was written to make people think it was a jab at communism. But at the same time, he inserted a “given” that capitalism is inherently exploitative.
Calling Galbraith a “liberal” is misleading even given the modern American meaning of the word as someone who favors a extensive welfare state. He revealed himself to be a commie several times and that -not antiwar principles- was of course why he opposed US involvement in Vietnam . It’s like Nazis who feel that U.S. involvement in world war II was wrong. They don’t think so because they think war is wrong on principle, but because they liked Nazi Germany. So there is no reason to have anything but negative feelings about him.
Here is a quote from Galbraith that now appears quite funny:
“Partly, the Russian system succeeds because, in contrast to the Western industrial economies, it makes full use of its manpower.”
The linked article BTW quotes Murray Rothbard’s view of Galbraith’s “The Affluent Society”:
“replete with fallacies… dogmatic assertions and time-honored rhetorical devices in place of reasoned argument.”
“‘Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.’ — Apparently entirely ignorant as to the history of communism.
Isn’t that quote actually a jab at communism?”
I’ve heard that that’s a Russian proverb meant to be satirical. If anyone would know it would be the Russians.
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