esrosedotblog

LESS AFFLUENT

It is hard to imagine a world without John Kenneth Galbraith in it.

We will be poorer for it.

Even though he has been relatively quiet for a number of years, just when I would imagine him gone, he would erupt with some new observation or appear at an important event.

In my Harvard Square years, he was often visible plowing through the Coop with his bookbag or hopping across the Square; indulging in the local sport of jaywalking.

I went to some parties where he was there.

I watched, mostly. He was a very charismatic guy.

He was not greatly appreciated by his own profession of Economics but then, he was less an economist than an observer and wry commentator on our society.

His book, The Affluent Society predicted the state of our world today where the rich/poor gap widens and corporate power gains its hold on political and spiritual entities.

He was always dryly funny and even slashing in his observations. The word 'trenchant' comes to mind.

We had him around for a lot of years to slaughter the sacred cows.

I can only imagine the havoc he is having in the fields of heaven as he makes his wry observations about the place.