It is the belief system of Friedmanite pillars like the Washington Consensus, which includes the IMF and World Bank, not to mention the WTO, Rand Corporation and every other 'free market' money-obsessed whore monger and apologist on the planet. And the infamous Chicago School of Economics, of course.
A belief system that has made the world an ugly, selfish, poverty-stricken place, and a belief system that is the antithesis of what I stand for, never mind that it is unsustainable for people and planet alike.
Enter John Kenneth Galbraith. This Canadian-born economist was one of the most celebrated economists of the 20th century. A devout Keynesian (which instantly makes him someone I can respect, because Keynesian economics is what it should be about), he was strong believer in the potential harm that could be caused due to the growing link between economics, the 'political economy' and the rise of self-interested corporations.
I need to read more about his work, beliefs and life. This was clearly a man with vision, a man whose words and intellectual thinking are even more relevant today that ever before.
Just a few of his brilliant quotes are testament to that:
"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."
“In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.”
"There's no question that this is a time when corporations have taken over the basic process of governing."Milton Friedman hated the man. Isn't that reason enough to think highly of John Kenneth Galbraith?
Do you get my point?
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