John Kenneth Galbraith : Written Profile

Even if the 1920’s seem affluent and prosperous on the surface, the realities of time contradicted such notions; in fact, it can be clearly stated that this decade should not be judged as an era of wealth. Inequality was rampant in society at this time, especially when it comes to stark income differences between the upper, middle and lower classes. While it can be said that the upper classes, who make up a mere 1% of the population enjoyed most of these materialistic luxuries, the vast majority of the American population was barely getting by.

In 1879 Henry George wrote an article titled “Progress and Poverty”. In this article he discussed the ongoing industry and he stated that “the wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent.

The continuous disparity of wealth and income can cause constant economic problems within a society. Although it is not apparent all the time, there are few benefits of discrepancy itself such as individual wealth, capital, and labor. Both Smith and Carnegie have distinct beliefs about wealth that differentiate from one another, yet are similar in certain ways. Adam Smith confined all his ideas about the common man in his “Wealth of Nations”. Whereas, in the “Gospel of Wealth,” Andrew Carnegie had distinct beliefs about the effects of capitalism . All in all, economic conditions of the 21st century still date back to previous years and signify the importance of economic competition.

In other words, America has a widening gap between its wealthy and poor. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a problem emerging: the disappearance of the middle class. Low-wage workers continue to fall behind those who make higher wages, and this only widens the gap between the two. There has been an economic boom in the United States, which has made the country more prosperous than it has ever been. That prosperity does not reach all people; it seems to only favor the rich. Rising economic segregation has taken away many opportunities for the poor to rise in America today. The poor may find that the economic boom has increased their income; however, as their income increase so does the prices they must for their living expenses (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom 19).

(An Analysis of Why The Rich Are Getting Richer And the Poor, Poorer, by Robert B. Reich)

During the 1920s, the middle-class in America embodied Eighner’s description of the “rat-race millions” who were constantly racing to get more material goods. From radios, to the newest appliances, to Henry Ford’s automobiles, the people in the middle-class wanted more and more money to purchase these items, so they turned to the stock market (Garraty 426). The materialistic greed within Americans led them to recklessly buy thousands of stocks in hopes securing more money, but the greed they had brought about the stock market crash which led America and the rest of the industrialized world straight into the Great Depression. The poverty and the suffering that came along with the economic depression showed how harmful greed and materialism can

As civilization has evolved, economic inequality has existed since the feudal era and has made its place in modern society. It is a dilemma that examines the gap between the low wealth of the middle-class worker and the profitable earnings of the monopolizing upper-class business owner. It is a socio- economic issue that can best explored through the lens of the conflict theory; thoroughly explaining as to how the wealth gap came to exist and the consequences of such an economic state on the interaction between the middle-class worker and the wealthy businessman.

Leading up to the year 1981, America had fallen into a period of “stagflation”, a portmanteau for ‘stagnant economy’ and ‘high inflation’. Characterized by high taxes, high unemployment, high interest rates, and low national spirit, America needed to look to something other than Keynesian economics to pull itself out of this low. During the election of 1980, Ronald Reagan’s campaign focused on a new stream of economic policy. His objective was to turn the economy into “a healthy, vigorous, growing economy [which would provide] equal opportunities for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination.” Reagan’s policy, later known as ‘Reaganomics’, entailed a four-point plan which cut taxes, reduced government spending,

In this article, however, the United States middle-class citizen did not receive more income after the inflation. This is the crucial evidence, which shows that the middle-class in America is not the richest now.

In the last few decades of the nineteenth century, America stepped into innovation. The economic growth dramatically, new products, transportation systems and technologies improved. The wealth is highlighted by the American upper class such as Andre Carnegie, William A. Clark, John Jacob Astor, and many more. This might know as the “Golden Age”, however, most Americans called it the “Gilded Age”. This term was made by Mark Twain in 1873 . In this period time, the rich were getting richer, we called them “Robber Baron”, and the poor were getting poorer. Industrial workers and farmers had to work long hours in dangerous conditions for

In 1978, the economy started suffering in the US, because the middle class was getting weaker, and inequality started increasing. According to Reich, the middle class is directly associated with the economy, because 70 percent of the economy is summoned up of consumer spending. The middle class is the foundation of consumer spending. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, wages

As citizens of the United States, we are members of the leading capitalist economy in the world. Our production and distribution is mostly done privately and we operate in a “profit” or “market” system. The capitalist system has been a target for criticism throughout the last three hundred years and is being discussed now more than ever due to the recent recession and financial crisis (Shaw and Barry n.d., 1). Its effects,

John Kenneth Galbraith, born on October 15, 1908, was one of American’s more influential economists, longtime Harvard professor, and a U.S. ambassador to India, an author, an economist, and “used caustic wit and an iconoclastic temperament to help set the foundation of modern economic thinking” (http://www.csmonitor.com). He, along with another famous economist, and longtime rival, Milton Friedman, believed that everyone has an idea, and that every idea matters, and were masters of the debates and are both very smart people, however, Dr. Galbraith was more to the progressive tradition, and his work was never really accepted, and criticized. Yet through the presidency of John F. Kennedy, he was a trusted adviser, and the author of more

Imagine that after a lifelong of hard work and saving, you find that your lifesavings will not buy more than one cup of coffee. For a majority of the middle class living in Germany during the early 1920’s this was precisely their experience. Of course, not all suffered during this period of hyperinflation. Those who owed money encouraged their government’s expansionary monetary policies, knowing the resulting inflation would effectively cancel their debt. In fact, it was the Reich itself who had the most to gain from inflation, for it was the biggest debtor of them all.

“...those new books about economic history, one of those books explaining how the West(meaning Europe and North America after its conquest and settlement by Europeans) got rich: the West got rich not from the free(free-- in this case meaning got-for-nothing) and then undervalued labour, for generations, of the people like me you see walking around...etc” (Kincaid, 9).