progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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The Telmarc Group 6.2 JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL The next of what I call the neo Progressives is John Kenneth Galbraith. A Canadian and later Harvard Professor in between Government stints, Galbraith brought to the fore a new structure to the classic Progressive features. Galbraith was a transitional figure who first came of age during the FDR administration holding various posts from time to time. He had that middle class, semi academic, mid western bent which also characterized so many of the initial Progressives and yet he was able to take it one step further, establishing the neo-Progressive paradigm, by amalgamating academia and Government positions, thus enabling a continual interplay with policy whether the party in power was in or out. We explain Galbraith briefly here using Galbraith's three major works: American Capitalism, Affluent Society, New Industrial State. This trilogy established the Galbraith economic philosophy which seems to be what is dominating the current Administration in their goals and their actions. Unlike pure Keynes philosophy which looks upon the economy as a system with knobs which one can manipulate the Galbraithian economist looks upon the economy from a power perspective. Namely that the Government has power for good and evil and that the Government has a duty to deploy that power for what it sees as good. The famous book by Bertrand Russell on Power is an interesting example of how power has been used through the ages. Galbraith's experience during his times in Washington showed him how power can be applied in a societal context. 6.2.1 American Capitalism In American Capitalism Galbraith states (p 104-105): "In one way or another nearly all of the great American fortunes are based on the present or past possession of monopoly power. ….Income inequality like monopoly distorts the use of resources. It diverts them from the wants of the many to the esoteric desire of the few…Unecessary inequality in income, unnecessary in the sense that it does not regard differences in intelligence, application or willingness to take risks, may also impair economic stability." Thus to Galbraith, monopoly is evil and those with intelligence, hard work, and risk takers get rewarded but that excessive wealth distorts the true direction of the economy. The work by Piketty as shown below is an example of the current trend of socialist economists who worry that income distribution is skewed. In the Piketty plot we see the percent of wealth held by the top 1% of the population. We see the explosion now in the the same way, arrogance does not survive in a truly intellectually challenging environment, and there is always someone to show you the error of your ways. Unfortunately that seems never to have been the case for Columbia; it seems to engender arrogance and the feeling that you have obtained the truth. Page 150
The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL US reaching levels not seen since the beginnings of the Depression. However these are not monopoly amounts. The current Administration picks up on Piketty and in page 11 of the 2010 Budget puts the Piketty curve. The curve has been updated to 2006 and is for the US alone. It is quite interesting to see that Piketty showed the curved back before the Depression in 1930 whereas the Administration shows it only to 1980. As one says, Statistics can be quite confusing! It can also be the hand maid of deception. Countervailing power was the second theme of this work. As Galbraith says (p 111): Page 151
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The Telmarc Group and the Progressi
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