Economics exists to make astrology look respectable. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith It is almost as important to know what is not serious as to know what is. John Kenneth Galbraith seriousimportantknows 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. John Kenneth Galbraith coupleresponsibilitymean Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. John Kenneth Galbraith freedompoliticalart One of my greatest pleasures in my writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the realization that such people rarely read. John Kenneth Galbraith realizationwritingpeople The happiest time of anyone's life is just after the first divorce. John Kenneth Galbraith divorcelife-isfirsts The masters thought they were loved until one day one of their favorites farted loudly while serving dinner and the next day was gone. The very first manifestation of the classless society is the disappearance of the servant class. John Kenneth Galbraith next-dayone-dayclass Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear. John Kenneth Galbraith underweareconomypower It is a commonplace of modern technology that problems have solutions before there is knowledge of how they are to be solved. John Kenneth Galbraith moderntechnologyproblem Hermann Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Albert Speer, Walther Frank, Julius Streicher and Robert Ley did pass under my inspectionand interrogation in 1945 but they only proved that National Socialism was a gangster interlude at a rather low order of mental capacity and with a surprisingly high incidence of alcoholism. John Kenneth Galbraith goeringnazismorder Few can believe that suffering, especially by others, is in vain. Anything that is disagreeable must surely have beneficial economic effects. John Kenneth Galbraith economicssufferingbelieve To see economic policy as a problem of choice between rival ideologies is the greatest error of our time. John Kenneth Galbraith investingerrorschoices In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability. John Kenneth Galbraith economicsfaithdesire If all else fails immortality can always be assured by adequate error. John Kenneth Galbraith laughterhumorousmistake The man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud. The basic forms are all known, have all been practiced. The manners of capitalism improve. The morals may not. John Kenneth Galbraith investingmaymen Of all classes the rich are the most noticed and the least studied. John Kenneth Galbraith richesrichclass Anyone who says he won't resign four times, will. John Kenneth Galbraith fourpoliticspolitical It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought. John Kenneth Galbraith investinganchorssea The individual serves the planning system not by supplying it with savings and the resulting capital; he serves it far more by consuming its products. John Kenneth Galbraith consumerismindividualsaving No politician can praise unemployment or inflation, and there is no way of combining high employment with stable prices that does not involve some control of income and prices. Otherwise the struggle for more consumption and more income to sustain it-a struggle that modern corporations, modern unions and modern democracy all facilitate and encourage-will drive up prices. Only heavy unemployment will then temper this upward thrust. Not many wish to confront the truth that the modern economy gives a choice only between inflation, unemployment, or controls. John Kenneth Galbraith choicesstrugglegiving Milton Friedman’s misfortune is that his economic policies have been tried. John Kenneth Galbraith miltoneconomicpolicy
