Conversations with History: John Kenneth Galbraith

[@martynhanson]

My dad was a Marxist and suggested I read a lot of books - Prof Galbraith was one of them. He also used to write for the Guardian and Observer here in the UK a lot. He did a great tv series called 'The Age of Uncertainty' and I still have the book and am about to pass it to my daughter

[@drwalka10]

Marxist are economic illiterate envious pompous manipulators

[@the_famous_reply_guy]

14 years later has your daughter come to the same conclusion as yourself or has the current late stage of capitalism changed your ideas?

[@zapkvr]

The greatest public intellectual of the 20h century.

[@rapier1954]

So smart he never got anything right.

[@Oscar656523]

Bertrand Russell is pretty good too

[@nocucksinkekistan7321]

@@rapier1954 He was right about literally everything and predicted this modern world to the T

[@drwalka10]

Marxist are economic illiterate envious pompous manipulators

[@JS-dt1tn]

@@rapier1954 Right becuase we the newest iPhone is produced because of our real need for it.

[@geoffreynhill2833]

This interview took place in the 1980s when President Reagan set in motion the global corporate rip-off, financial de-regulation, the Nero-liberal "revolution" etc., the consequences of which we are all living with today. As JKG points out, Reagan the ex-Hollywood actor, always preferred fantasy to reality.

[@abcrane]

good god we've been through the ringer

[@Sam-vf5uc]

Reagan's policies prevented the recession of the early 1980s from spiraling into another depression. Unlike the over-regulation and money contraction that lead to economic disaster, the country bounced back. We are 'living with' the benefits of that today.

[@mab7175]

​@@Sam-vf5uc Where did you learn Macroeconomics at? Homestudy.

[@mab7175]

Ronald Reagan's Presidency was the culmination at the outset of active implementation of the 1971 Lewis Powell Memo to the United States Chamber of Commerce firmly ensconced in public policy, unfortunately.

[@AlanHarveyAgain]

Absolutely right on. Corporate dominance, including capture of the government, has run everybody else into the ground, but maybe it has led us to the place where progressives have a chance again. Not by dint of our own genius, but because of the failure of the conservative theology, as expressed in graphic illustration and grotesque dimensions. Poverty, health care, transportation, climate change, education. Galbraith is still ahead of his time. His son, James K., is great, too, on poverty, power, Europe.

[@randy95023]

John Kenneth Galbraith... What an interesting guy. His activities during WW2 with the office of "Price Administration" were some of his most interesting times. His post war surveys of the effects of Strategic bombing of Germany and Japan must have been bittersweet for such a peaceful man. He was a national treasure (even if he was born in Canada).

[@kennethmorrison7689]

Canada has made many contributions to intellectual life in the US and worldwide.

[@kennethmorrison7689]

He's a treasure BECAUSE he's Canadian!

[@MrRobster1234]

Galbraith was from a small, farming town about 20 miles west of London, ON, Canada. Japanese financial people still journey to Iona Station to have their pictures taken sitting in the bathtub of his boyhood home. His 1964 book "The Scotch" is about his growing up years with the quirky, Scottish farmers in the 1920's. It's a great, little book.

[@JesseMaurais]

Galbraith stands with the best of social commentators and critics of power in society. Others that I put in his class: George Orwell, Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, Robert Fisk.

[@ianjohnson458]

Very important connection to Trump and today's media emerges around 33:41 in the comparison of Kennedy and Reagan. Kennedy held to reality. Reagan had the script AND reality (the former *trumping* the latter). The crux of the comparison is mastery of Hollywood culture and television media. Galbraith seems prescient here.

[@5dollarshake263]

Trump wasn't perfect nor a genius but relied on his instincts and intuition when making decisions or evaluating a persons character. I was neutral when he entered office and he slowly won me over. The entire "Russian Collusion" narrative had me saying "Trump says its b.s., the Dems swear its true, one of these sides is acting in bad faith" and I figured out who was lying early on. FBI agent Peter Strojk was questioned before congress and based on his text messages, and the way he answered tough questions from Jim Jordan and Trey Gowdy had me 100% sure "Russian Collusion" was cooked up by intel agencies because Trump was a complete non political outsider and him being President could act like a wrench thrown into the plans of the administrative state/deep state/the bureaucracy, as we know Trump campaigned on "lets stop these forever wars" so you can imagine what the CIA, the higher ups at the military, and the weapons manufacturers thought about that. Now we officially know Russia Gate was invented by Hillary and CIA Director John Brennan for a few reasons but I will only mention the 2 main reasons. The #1 reason was Hillary needed to create a distraction from her emails being leaked by wikileaks that proved Hillary was a bad faith actor, she held public positions on policy that ppl liked but she also held private positions on policy that she planned to implement if victorious and the emails were going to reveal these private positions. The #2 reason was Trumps appeal was he was an America first patriot so Hillary could attack that appeal by painting Trump as a traitor to Russia. Sorry, this was long, one last thing. I can tell by your comment you aren't a fan of Trump but can we please act in good faith and admit how terrifying the Biden administration is? Biden's brain is mush, he doesn't know where he is, he can't speak which so who really is running the show? His Afghanistan withdrawal was a good thing to do but it was just a sequence of crucial error after crucial error after crucial error. Then you have Ukraine, I empathize with innocent Ukrainians but this administration is hellbent on Nato involvement which will trigger WW3 with the LITERAL #1 country in the world with the most advanced hypersonic nukes that have the longest range to date, such a range it can fly around the world and hit America from BEHIND. Jesus christ I'm done. I apologize.

[@waynemcmillan5970]

A giant in intellect as well as in height. He had the uncanny ability to recognise that the conventional economic wisdom was wrong well before many of his colleagues. No one wrote better on the subject of Economics than Galbraith, during the 20th century.

[@owengreene382]

Thank you, Wayne, reminiscence your father's sound advise. I'm sure it serve you well, as the years unfolded. Watching Utube, l came upon Mr, JK.Galbrath, one smart cooky.

[@karanveersingh6367]

Nice simple quiet Low light beautiful interview set .

[@emotionalinvalid]

Harry, the early years! He looks like Noel Redding, Jimmy Hendrix's bass player. Love to see how people look like at different stages of the life. thank you UC Television for this 1986 video.

[@ciaronsmith4995]

We need this guy today more than ever.

[@npmankad]

Galbraith had a scintillating mind that was reflected in his writings also. His conservatively tidy style that one no more encounters nowadays with liberal doses of wit made him one of the most readable writers.

[@bscottb8]

A wise and entertaining raconteur.

[@7jerryv7]

Most 'intellectual' arguments tend to consist of love letters (host ingratiates himself to John), hate letters (note the ad hominem attacks in this thread), or real contributions. Where are the real contributions? Thank god for Chomsky.

[@jagsherdhaliwal3191]

27:55 There wasn't a resentment towards dictatorship in Iran. Which one could argue was the response to free themselves of American subordination. And one can only argue the inevitable, in regards to the ayatollah after the fact. Or argue that Iran is the outlier, where they were supportive of a Islamic Republic as long as the Americans weren't involved.

[@lskarin]

I agree. In the late 70s, he and Milton Friedman had two series on PBS that gave alternate views on economics, and I thought it was edifying. Television at its best. As educational. William Buckley's Firing Line was also excellent because he engaged powerful alternative views. The engineering professor, Norbert Wiener, made a defining hit on commercial television when he called it a "national medicine show." But there are gems. Look at "Beakman's World."

[@lskarin]

In the 20s, Keynes wrote The Economic Consequences of the Peace, where he pointed out what a mistake being punitive toward the Germans in terms of war reparations. Happily, the Allies did not make the same mistake after WW2. The Treaty of Versailles gave us the Nazis; the Marshall Plan and benevolent occupation of Japan gave us two peaceful and prosperous countries. Listen to Tom Lehrer's MLF Lullaby: "We taught them a lesson in 1918; and they've hardly bothered us since then."

[@JP2times2007]

Ralph Miliband has a great critique of Galbraith in a socialist register from some year. Its free online. His critique is that the technostructure does not have as much weight as Galbraith says it does in The New Industrial State

[@mab7175]

John Kenneth Galbraith's book, "The New Industrial State", is a seminal writing delineating the economic modern structural organizational dynamics of the United States ever written. The central thrust in validy of the writing is yet to this decade 2020 an immutable literary edifice inscribed in structural walls of the United States Economic System.

[@zapkvr]

This was the decade that fashion forgot you know. The seventies.

[@satyratron]

massive fro you got there mr kreisler.

[@geoffreynhill2833]

JKG also touches upon Pres. Eisenhower's prescient warning against the growing might of the military-industrial complex in the U.S. although Harry Kreisler doesn't take him up on it. Eisenhower's post-War G.I.Bill was another great and just move although it would be regarded as "socialist" or even "communist" now. That's progress for you!

[@CJWilly]

I love how he e-nun-ci-ates everything. And the hair, oh my god! And there's no terrible 80s music!!

[@thelanarchist6309]

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian born, Born: October 15, 1908, Iona Station, Ontario in a conversation with host Harry Kreisler, looks back and reflects on the art of writing, U.S. policy toward the Third World during the Cold War, political leadership, and on his intellectual contributions. Series: Conversations with History

[@danrice1141]

the reality, not script, thanks

[@virajsanghavi2804]

Which year was this interview?

[@blazodeolireta]

50:00 I wonder what he would day today. Also, at 1.5x speed does he sound a bit like Nixon?

[@Dittsche182]

Galbraith ist ein sehr sehr kluger Mann gewesen. „Die Regel besagt, daß sich Finanzgeschäfte nicht für Innovationen eignen (Vgl. Galbraith 1992: 24).

[@JesseMaurais]

A large part of his first book on Capital dealt with it extensively. The fourth volume exclusively. I wouldn't defend everything he said, but much of it seems correct. For example: Commodities have value by fulfilling human needs. Does that not seem obvious?

[@TelecasterLPGTop]

@polymath7 I prefer stuff like this but unfortunately when replying to queries of from whence did I obtain my data about a particular issue being discussed, my opponent always drops to the lowest common denominator assuming that everything on the web is rubbish. My usual reply is the web is 50/50 good data/dog poo while TV is 99% dog poo.

[@Politicsson]

Harry Kreisler looks younger with fascinating haircut .

[@kennethmorrison7689]

Very few I preferr over Gaulbrath to gripping me into thinking.

[@zapkvr]

Which "two"?

[@lskarin]

A modest correction: "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

[@jerryklooster438]

History has of course shown JKG to be mostly correct in his pragmatic approach to macroeconomics.

[@lskarin]

Ivy Tech is a Community College like the one I taught at for 30 years. No Masters there. Einstein was a patent clerk -- therefore he couldn't possibly do physics. And many Wall Street folk are engineers and scientists because they know mathematics and the libertal arts people spent most of their time avoiding math in their college careers. Check out The Economist (a conservative magazine) pointing out how prescient Galbraith was and listing his works.

[@OgallalaKnowhow]

@jscottupton How do you mean? I think he would have seen Austrian economics as no different from the orthodoxy he had been writing against since the 1930s.

[@polymath7]

(chuckle) His voice reminds me a little of Harry Reasoner, from when I used to watch '60 Minutes' as a child.

[@Myndir]

@leavingjesusland Milton Friedman's mother WORKED in a sweat-shop. His parents, who were poor immigrants from Eastern Europe, then went into the dry-goods trade as a result of upward social mobility under capitalism. However, if you're focusing on biographical details, you're clearly not very interested in economics as an academic subject.

[@freelancer9955]

Почему ? Не приглашали ? Очень как приглашал М.С. Горбачёв. Договорились об организации первоначально встречи Дж. К. Гэлбрэйта с Лучшим интеллектуалами СССР в Москве. Еще до периода премьерства Павлова В.С. Встреча состоялась. В настоящее время "пуристы-моралисты" очень левацкого толка продолжают "бузить", и удалили все упоминания о ней из мирового интернета, как минимум. Дж. К. Гэлбрейт после встречи сразу заявил журналистам, ещё до отчётной беседы с Генеральным секретарём : "Я очень рано приехал в эту страну !" СССР из-за внутренних политических проблем готовил очень недостоверную экономическую отчётность для представления в международное экспертное сообщество, которая создавала картину его стабильного социально-политического положения. Теории и практики стресс-тест контроля, в том числе по косвенным данным, еще не существовало. Поэтому Дж. К. Гэлбрейт не мог полагать, что его крайне критичное отношение с подготовке и установкам советских интеллектуалов может чем-то навредить курсу Перестройки в СССР и лично политическим позициям М.С. Горбачёва. После 1991 года в РФ стали работать с тем, что много-много "по-проще" - сторонниками так называемой "шоковой терапии." В том числе, потому что в других, по важнейшим характеристика, странах она показывала удовлетворительные результаты.

[@iPREnZ]

Interesting perceptive on "the script" part.

[@lskarin]

All I can say is most Canadians won't agree with you. I admire Lévesque as well as Jean Charest. Quebecois must always assert themselves, being an French island in an English sea. Canadians love their health insurance. It is true Quebec could exist independently. But if Quebec did go independent, watch out for Newfoundland and Labrador. They might discard the power lines from Churchill Falls simply out of pique and because they have industrial needs of their own like nickel processing.

[@Myndir]

@jessemaurais That can be interpreted in two ways: in one way it is false (commodities have value by their being able to fulfill specific needs) and in one way it is trivial (commodities have value in relation to human wants). There is a difference between "wants" and "needs", at least in non-Marxist psychology. What can initially seem totally commonsense and obvious can be wrong when subjected to scrutiny. Otherwise, why have a science of economics at all?

[@zapkvr]

Now what did he get "wrong"? Or at least what did he get any more wrong than Friedman?

[@a.a.wallace3928]

To read my review on Galbraith's short, very good book A Short History of Financial Euphoria, please visit my blog, North American Value Investing

[@JesseMaurais]

Hegel's mysticism isn't singularly his dialectical method, which is the only part which Marx adopted, and even then in a modified form. Galbraith doesn't accept every part of classical Marxism either, as he has said in print. But it's hard for anyone to reject Marx's value categories once learned, as they appeal to common sense. Galbraith certainly does not believe in state tyranny, and I don't believe Marx did either, though his work was used to that end. The char limit forbids me to elaborate.

[@lskarin]

I don't Canadians would agree with you. Did you ever hear of Quebec? Canada is a vibrant society with legacy from John A. Macdonald, Pierre Trudeau, and Tommy Douglas. If it's just another state, why do you guys have universal health insurance and we in the US don't?

[@kaymcclain1]

@miguelmouta I don't understand your comment...K

[@miguelmouta]

@kaymcclain1 I meant that I hope that the honoured degrees you did obtain , may help you in dealing with time ( ageing), and death, in this beautiful planet.. But I can turn it into math language, if you still dont understand .

[@polymath7]

Yes, if you're selective, KZbin is generally much better than TV. You can use this site to watch a video of some tool who taught his pet porcupine to pop inflated condoms, or you can use it to watch stuff like this.

[@lapanthanim]

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but this was probably recorded in the 1970s. There were plenty of geeky/hippy/effeminate guys with bad hairdos back then. ;)

[@stephenphillips245]

It was 1986. Mentioned in the intro.

[@zapkvr]

Strict monetarism has been been proven false over and over. If the facts aren't good enough for you, what would you accept? As exhibit one I present Japan. And that's only in the last twenty years. What is the cash rate in the U.S. right now? What is the outlook for REAL assets? Honestly, you need to try picking up a book once in a while. Or a newspaper. Peace.

[@zapkvr]

Not better than picking up a book though

[@lskarin]

Please explain. I take it you voted to separate in the referendum. Pierre Trudeau was a federalist, and the only reason I agree with him is I think it's best for Canadians and Québécois, who are still Canadians. Universal health care doomed to fail? Maybe on Mars. I respect you and your opinions. And, if you are talking about the Plains of Abraham, I know about that. I follow the work of Denys Arcan, and agree with you the great work of Québécois does get ignored. Not by me.

[@JesseMaurais]

@Myndir Modern economists measure only aggregate demand. It doesn't matter whether the consumers are fulfilling wants (like CD's) or needs (like food). But even that's irrelevant, because Marx isn't talking about the science of economics, but how people make value judgments. If a person desires something it's apt to say that they valuate it. That values exist for people, and not on their own, is a truism he did not invent. While there's many good criticisms of Marx, I don't think this is one.

[@wordlyfe]

Galbraith was no fool. If you can't watch this without getting something out of it...

[@aporia82]

kriesler looks cute in 1980ies :)

[@JonnM]

John Kenneth Galbraith was indeed a great thinker and intellectual. He spoke with a great degree of confidence, some would say arrogance, that tended to give credence and credibility to his procrastinations. However he was been shown to be pretty much wrong in much of his analysis, conclusions and forecasts.

[@rapier1954]

You are correct and to think of the minds he contaminated with his nonsense.

[@danrice1141]

@@rapier1954 so should theorists just let artists and business people comment about current events and predict the future?

[@rapier1954]

@@danrice1141 I didn't say a thing about restricting anyone's right to speak did I?

[@mab7175]

I met John Kenneth Galbraith on several occasions. John Kenneth Galbraith was a far cry from arrogance. He was tall, amiable gracious with a memorable gentile aura. His soft spoken penetrating wit was a pleasure in his company.

[@mab7175]

All of you, go read John Kenneth Galbraith's book, "The New Industrial State". And if it doesn't sink in. All of you live in a fantasy land. It certainly isn't the real world.

[@PhilipShawn]

#1 plausability, #2;denial

[@lskarin]

With people like Summers and Volcker in the Obama administration, you can expect econometric models that will be modified if they don't work to improve the economy. While Summers may say stupid things about women in science, in Summers and Volcker you have two pragmatists who will be ideological in trying to make the economy better.

[@gautammisra2741]

Longest servings US AMBASSADOR IN INDIA? Memory betrays. Friend of pandit nehru.

[@ratunzel]

Gee! Do you see wath I see? I see,the big genious , and you,Garcia Lorca,wath were you doing by down by the wathermelons?

[@soylentramen7795]

Eyeing the grothery boys, thilly

[@dorisglenn7739]

No he was not a MARIXST

[@leavingjesusland]

Do you have any understanding of JKG? Galbraith worked extensively for FDR's administration during WWII and later advised JFK on economic policy. Not a true economist? He wrote highly influential books on economics and influenced an entire generation of economists. If you look at his works they deal heavily with economic theory. If we could all be like Milton Friedman... Have sweatshop owning parents who weren't successful. Then go into academics as a reactionary to defend sweatshops.

[@lskarin]

I have a masters in electrical engineering. Sounds better than your certificate in hairdressing.

[@TheSpiritOfTheTimes]

Damn, where the fuck did they get the hilarious geeky interviewer?

[@lskarin]

Bankruptcy has nothing to do with it. People working now pay for those retired. You act as if SS were a bank. It is not. Love your sentence that Keynesiam is a way for government (which you obviously hate) is a way to expand power. It is not obvious. Keynes' policies helped to get the world out of a depression. WW2 did the rest. You might note that Japan's travails had a lot to do with balancing their budget in the early nineties when fiscal deficits were called for. Try Krugman.

[@emotionalinvalid]

I chose the Oscar Madison approach to writing: the first draft is the final draft. minimum effort=maximum gain. hey, will someone go pick me up pack of cigs and case of beer. And while your at it, please wash my dishes, clean my filthy apartment, wipe my asz after i go do do, etc, and chauffer me around. just some wishful thinking for emo invalid, recluse and destroyed by psychiatry...btw i like the way Harry is laughing a lot, like its a day at the beech.

[@CoolHandLuke7]

Is that guy the voice of piglet from Winnie the pooh?

[@tarnopol]

Wait, what's this about porcupines popping condoms? Where can I find that? :) Just kidding; you're right. Everyone: search for "Galbraith Age of Uncertainty, playlist" and watch it! Then read The Affluent Society and everything else he wrote. Then check back here. :)

[@bapyou]

Yo Harry. Is that a wolverine sleeping on your head?

[@lskarin]

Show me one place I said I taught at Ivy Tech. Indiana ought to be ashamed of you.

[@alvarogines6788]

Milton friedman was right and not Galbraith

[@lskarin]

Define "corrupt." I've just got onto this moronic morass of nonsense and I'd like to hear from you.

[@Myndir]

@patnais102 "The market can manage itself alone". A hilarious misrepresentation of monetarism that 5 minutes of research could amend. My advice is never comment on the thoughts of someone you haven't read.

[@charlesdarwinxxx]

Galbraith has been called a "media personality" NOT a true-economist like milton friedman, adam smith. Moreover, academic-pinheads have Never spent a single day out with real-jobs in the real world. Age 5-75 in skool. Summer offs. 8-months of work. Tenure: jobs for life. "Money for Nothing. Chicks for Free" Welfare for academics. Internet will obsolete college by 2020 2030.

[@lskarin]

It's "patience," not "patients," silly person. Perhaps that's a carryover from when you were one at an institution.

[@zsylvana]

@bapyou LOL!

[@polymath7]

*chuckle* That was a fictive example to illustrate my point (I'm sure you can well imagine such a video). There is, however, a video of an orangutan pissing in its own mouth.

[@lskarin]

You don't know oligarchy and socialism are opposites? What's wrong with you? No dictionary or historical reference?

[@DJO1O1]

hahaha

[@lskarin]

Ask what your fellow citizens think of Social Security. Freedom and governemt? Do you know what a false dichotomy is? Maybe you better look it up. Assuming you can read or find a reference.

[@firstal3799]

Interviewer needs a hair cut.

[@divvy1400yam600]

Boring introductionand whatever anyone says the interviewer needs a haircut.

[@jscottupton]

Poor Galbraith. All his life he tried so hard and got it wrong.