John Kenneth Galbraith quotes - page 5

The massive reduction in risk that is inherent in the development of the modern corporation has been far from fully appreciated. (John Kenneth Galbraith)
Nothing in our time is more interesting than the erstwhile capitalist corporation and the erstwhile Communist firm should, under the imperatives of organization, come together as oligarchies of their own members. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Any country that has Milton Friedman as an adviser has nothing to fear from a few million Arabs. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
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. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Ideas do not respect national frontiers, and this is especially so where language and other traditions are in common. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
In a community wherepublic services have failed to keep abreast of private consumption things are very different. Here, in an atmosphere of private opulence and public squalor, the private goods have full sway. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
There is an insistent tendency among serious social scientists to think of any institution which features rhymed and singing commercials, intense and lachrymose voices urging highly improbable enjoyment, caricatures of the human esophagus in normal and impaired operation, and which hints implausibly at opportunities for antiseptic seduction as inherently trivial. This is a great mistake. The industrial system is profoundly dependent on commercial television and could not exist in its present form without it. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Economists are generally negligent of their heroes. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Economic theory is the most prestigious subject of instruction and study. Agricultural economics, labor economics and marketing are lower caste fields of study. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
There is wonder and a certain wicked pleasure in these giddy ascents and terrible falls, especially as they happen to other people. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
In 1929 the discovery of the wonders of the geometric series struck Wall Street with a force comparable to the invention of the wheel. (John Kenneth Galbraith)
Because of his compassion Owen was always in trouble with his partners. They would have much preferred a tough, down-to-earth manager who would get a days work out of the little bastards. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Private enterprise did not get us atomic energy. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
A drastic reduction in weapons competition following a general release from the commitment to the Cold War would be sharply in conflict with the needs of the industrial system. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
The man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud. The basic forms are all known, have all been practiced. The manners of capitalism improve. The morals may not. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the US is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Clearly the most unfortunate people are those who must do the same thing over and over again, every minute, or perhaps twenty to the minute. They deserve the shortest hours and the highest pay. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
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. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
While it will be desirable to achieve planned results, it will be even more important to avoid unplanned disasters. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Marx profoundly affected those who did not accept his system. His influence extended to those who least supposed they were subject to it. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance with which they cannot contend. (John Kenneth Galbraith)
Educators have yet to realize how deeply the industrial system is dependent upon them. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Oligopoly is an imperfect monopoly. Like the despotism of the Dual Monarchy, it is saved only by its incompetence. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
Why is anything intrinsically so valueless so obviously desirable? View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
There is no name for all who participate in group decision-making or the organization which they form. I propose to call this organization the Technostructure. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith