John Kenneth Galbraith - Quodid

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Picture of John Kenneth Galbraith

John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as J. K. Galbraith or Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through the 2000s. As an economist, he leaned toward post-Keynesian economics from an institutionalist perspective. He served as the deputy director of the powerful Office of Price Administration (OPA) during World War II in charge of stabilizing all prices, wages and rents in the American economy, to combat the threat of inflation and hoarding during a time of shortages and rationing, a task which was successfully accomplished.

Quotes from John Kenneth Galbraith

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

memory error immortality

Where humor is concerned there are no standards - no one can say what is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

humor bad good standards

The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

opinion pain thinking laziness

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

politics compromise art possibility disaster

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

choice proof changing your mind

I am not quite sure what the advantage is in having a few more dollars to spend if the air is too dirty to breathe, the water is too polluted to drink, the commuters are losing out in the struggle to get in and out of the city, the streets are filthy, the schools are so bad that the young perhaps wisely stay away, and the hoodlums roll citizens for some of the dollars they saved in the tax cut.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

money environmentalism water air city streets schools

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

politics memory forgiveness

What is called a high standard of living consists in considerable measure of arrangements for avoiding muscular energy, increasing sensual pleasure, and enhancing caloric intake beyond any conceivable nutritional requirement. Nonetheless, the belief that increased production is a worthy social goal is very nearly absolute.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

Most people assume the fights are going to be the left versus the right, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

There are days when the result is so bad that no fewer than five revisions are required. In contrast, when I'm greatly inspired, only four revisions are needed.

—John Kenneth Galbraith

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