Saturday, October 8, 2005

Happy Birthday, JKG!

The London Observer has published a 97th-birthday tribute to one of the most provocative minds of, well, the last several generations, the economist John Kenneth Galbraith:  Happy Birthday, JK by William Keegan.

He includes a couple of quotes from a recent visit with Galbraith:

This year he was showing his age and clearly did not want a full-scale interview. But he certainly wanted to talk about corporations. 'The modern corporation operates under the mystique of the market, which is extensively under its control. This is a matter which modern economics recognises but does not pursue.'

And the man who warned Kennedy about the championing of war in Vietnam added: 'Our military operations, including notably Iraq, are under corporate direction through Rumsfeld and a compliant military staff. In the absence of corporate initiative and power we would not be in Iraq. And, a more poignant matter, we would not have George Bush.'

The great man is still in fighting form.

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