JK Galbraith: Corporations have taken over the basic process of governing

Great story on the Jim Lehrer Newshour last night about the economist John Kenneth Galbraith. At the end they briefly interviewed him - he must be almost 100 years old. That's when he said: "There's no question that this is a time when corporations have taken over the basic process of governing."

That the press is covering him, and this new book about him, made me wonder - are we about to see a return to fiscal sanity?





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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/economy/jan-june05/galbraith_5-24.html

PAUL SOLMAN: John Kenneth Galbraith, 20th century America's most famous economist. Advisor to Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman -- the most famous figures in the democratic party for more than seven decades -- always advising them that markets need an active government to help make them work. Author of a new Galbraith biography, Richard Parker:

RICHARD PARKER: He broke with American conservatism over this idea in the 1930s that free markets could solve their own problems. The American economy in the 1930s was in a mess. We were in the middle of the great Depression. A quarter of the population was out of work. Ninety percent of the stock market had disappeared. But conservatives were saying, "Leave it alone. The economy will come back." Galbraith was quite worried. He saw Stalin in Moscow. He saw Hitler in Germany. And he wanted to save capitalism from its failure.

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PAUL SOLMAN: I'd ask Richard Parker one last question. Did he think Galbraith himself might be up for a short visit? An hour later at the Cambridge house the Galbraiths have occupied for the past half-century, Parker and I climbed to the bedroom. Wife Kitty, herself 92, and a nurse were watching over him. Galbraith was, well, matter-of-fact.

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH: Sit down.

PAUL SOLMAN: I promised to be brief, so I got right to the point. Hasn't Galbraith's economic vision been eclipsed? Beginning with the Reagan administration and certainly now in the second Bush administration?

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH: No question it's been eclipsed by the people who have the money. There's no question that this is a time when corporations have taken over the basic process of governing.

PAUL SOLMAN: Will the pendulum swing back, do you suppose?

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH: Whether in my lifetime or not, it could require an exceedingly optimistic answer. But there is a certain alert concern on these matters running through the whole structure of the United States and the other democracies, is something that has operated up until now, and I strongly expect it to operate in the future.

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As for back as the late 19th Century, when the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same riights as citizens. After that, all bets were off. The entire 20th Century was a slow slide to the situation in which we find ourselves today.

and it took the 1970s and Carter's enthusiasm for deregulation plus the Bushes and Reagan to destroy FDR's legacy of democracy.

It was really the 70s on when corporations got organized and drove wedges in the left, pitting all the coalitions against each other when the real backsliding started.

Fascism JKG.

The fascist war on drugs and the fascist war on terror.

skinned people of the rest of the world.

where he said that Labor Unions and Big Government were the only counterbalances to complete Corporate control. So..

First the Labor Unions were dismantled, then Big Government was taken over... :(

that have influence behind the scenes. It's sort of mysterious. What's he referring to?

I enjoyed the information and the bit of history. I am afraid that I, like so many other Americans, am woefully uninformed when it comes to economic theory, practice and history. This was a wonderfully informative piece.

ayan rand and unbridled capitalism. 'orwellinan fascism' seems to me an apt name for the pure greed of those in power and the rest of us had better watch each others backs and our wallets. the secure days when great men of the caliber of galbraith are gone without a trace and now we have a fight on our hands of the proportions of the founding fathers fight to bring on democracy.

for the holidays from his stint as Ambassador to India during the Kennedy Administration.He mentioned to me at that time ( and how prophetic he was!) that both India and China are going to shake the world in one generation or two because these societies believe in the power of education to transform societies and they are both blessed with leaders who put the interests of their societies ahead of themselves.

I am sure he is very pleased with the statures of both India and China as economic powers today.

That's great! I've always admired him (JKG), AND his economic philosophy.

He surely did hit it on the head with India and China.

The course the U.S. is on at this time will bankrupt us down to 3rd world status within a few years, if the republican machine isn't driven out. A government is DESIGNED to help its people, and to manage the spending of any revenues collected for the mutual good of ALL taxpayers.

Republicans think otherwise...wars, imperialism, bribes, lucrative contracts to political contributors, etc.etc. They spend money like a bunch of drunken sailors in a whore house.

:kick::kick::kick:

Harvard like Mr.Galbraith.I agree with your sentiments.From what little I know he a was a very popular Ambassador in India and he is quite fondly remembered over there.

are part of the "forces behind the scene" he was talking about. Another is Japan. We owe these countries a fortune in loans.

so in a way - he has had an impact upon my understanding of economics. Sadly (for me) he outlived his former student.