John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

Canadian-American economist and diplomat (1908–2006)

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John Kenneth Galbraith (15 October 1908 – 29 April 2006) was a Canadian-American economist and author.

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Alternative Names: John K. Galbraith • John Galbraith • J. K. Galbraith • Ken Galbraith

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The myth that holds that the great corporation is the puppet of the market, the powerless servant of the consumer, is, in fact one of the devices by which its power is perpetuated.

Even the economist, who most takes for granted the primacy of pecuniary motivation, looks askance at the colleague who is too avid for consulting fees from corporations or textbook revenues or travel at the expense of the Ford Foundation. Academic courtesy may require that he refrain from first-person comment but duty dictates that he be vigorously critical of the transgressor when the latter is absent.

Economics is not an exact science.

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.

The foresight of financial experts was, as so often, a poor guide to the future.

But there is merit even in the mentally retarded legislator. He asks the questions that everyone is afraid to ask for fear of seeming simple.

SOME YEARS, like some poets,and politicians and some lovely women, are singled out for fame far beyond the common lot, and 1929 was clearly such a year.

There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth.

The power of the market, which is the fulcrum of traditional attitudes, depends on the validity of this assumption. It is a far, far better thing to admit to monopoly profits, even at exploitive levels, than to concede that the market is impotent.

In the autumn of 1929 the mightiest of Americans were, for a brief time, revealed as human beings.

Also present, as a kind of co-host, was the rector of the state university. He asked me if I knew the difference between capitalism and socialism. In capitalism man exploits man. In socialism it is just the reverse.

Speculation, it has been noted, comes when popular imagination settles on something seemingly new in the field of commerce or finance.

Oligopoly is an imperfect monopoly. Like the despotism of the Dual Monarchy, it is saved only by its incompetence.

It was not hard to persuade people that the market was sound; as always in such times they asked only that the disturbing voices of doubt be muted and that there be tolerably frequent expressions of confidence.

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