Quote of the day–John Kenneth Galbraith

People of privilege will alway risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.


John Kenneth Galbraith
1977
The Age of Uncertainty
[I find it interesting that Galbraith was a hard-core socialist and advocated the government intervention to remove “inequities”. The reason I find it interesting is that when I read the quote above I immediately, and only, thought of politicians and government bureaucrats.


Apparently he didn’t think of people in government as being “people of privilege”. He, like many other advocates of socialism, gun control, etc. only think in terms of the hoped for benefits rather than weighing the total package for its net worth. Contrary to those with experience with attempts to achieve utopia they think the equalizers will equalize themselves.


I should come up with “Just One Question” for socialists/communists. I believe it would end up something like, as I mentioned before, “How do you measure fairness/justice?”–Joe]

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3 thoughts on “Quote of the day–John Kenneth Galbraith

  1. He must not have read Animal Farm. If he had, he would still believe that, but he wouldn’t have said it. Otherwise the lesser animals wouldn’t know how hard it would be to get back what they gave up.

    The question to ask socialists it which is more important, equality or justice. They will pick equality, almost every time, so you know they are willing to perpetrate great injustice to achieve equality.
    The only true equality is the equality before the law. All men have the same laws and the law applies equally to all. All men have unequal talents, and unequal drive. Emiril Legasse is a terrible basketball player, and Michael Jordan is a terrible cook. They are both successful in the pursuit of happiness,

  2. Yup– I took the quote as referring exclusively to the ruling class. It could not logically apply to anyone else, being as the ruling class are the only ones who can use the power of law to create privileges. When I found out it was from a communist, I had to flip the world upside-down to see it the way statists see it;
    “Oh I get it now– he’s all hateful, envious and mixed up inside.”
    Good is bad and bad is good. Freedom is force and force is freedom. Rights are privileges and privileges are rights. Progress is destruction and destruction is progress. Love is hate and hate is love. Strength is weakness and weakness is strength. Respect is contemptible and contempt is respectable. Nothing is ever earned but the right to initiate force. The world is comprised of power brokers and suckers. Resources are confiscated and redistributed, not created and traded, and we can’t have just anyone and everyone doing the confiscating– it has to be “our” people, etc., etc.

  3. “The only true equality is the equality before the law. All men have the same laws and the law applies equally to all.”

    Ever heard of O. J. Simpson? The above quote only applies in an idealist or Utopian sense.

    In the USA individuals have equality in opportunity. Or more accurately, individuals had equal opportunity, until the current communists took over the country. This will become very clear when the money is handed out to people who want to attend college or university and the .gov gives them “loans/grants” to do so. Ever see the scaring leg irons do to human ankles.

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