Thread: Are we a democracy?

Originally Posted by Tonto

Hello mkpdavies, how would you describe Libertarianism, is it merely the reducing of state control in society, or its total abolishment, I ask because no two people have given the same answer, to me at any rate. Thanks mkpdavies.

Massive reduction to a much smaller state, but with property rights and rule of law.

Total abolishment would be anarchism for me.

You're not alone out there.

Galbraith's approach to democracy.

From Wikipedia: John Kenneth Galbraith, OC (October 15, 1908–April 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and progressivism. His books on economic topics were bestsellers in the 1950s and the 1960s.

Some of Galbraith's Ideas
Galbraith's main ideas focused around the influence of the market power of large corporations.[4] He believed that this market power weakened the widely-accepted principle of consumer sovereignty (not price takers, but price makers),[16] allowing corporations with the strongest market power to increase the production of their goods beyond an efficient amount. He further believed that market power played a major role in inflation[4] and argued that corporations and trade unions could only increase prices to the extent that their market power allowed them to. He argued that in situations of excessive market power, price controls effectively controlled inflation, but cautioned against using them in markets that were basically efficient such as agricultural goods and housing.[17] He noted that price controls were much easier to enforce industries with relatively few buyers and sellers.[17]:244 Galbraith's view of market power was not entirely negative; he also noted that the power of US firms played a part in the success of the US economy.
In The Affluent Society Galbraith asserts that classical economic theory was true for the eras before the present, which were times of "poverty"; now, however, we have moved from an age of poverty to an age of "affluence," and for such an age, a completely new economic theory is needed. Galbraith's main argument is that as society becomes relatively more affluent, so private business must "create" consumer wants through advertising, and while this generates artificial affluence through the production of commercial goods and services, the public sector becomes neglected as a result. He points out that while many Americans were able to purchase luxury items, their parks were polluted and their children attended poorly maintained schools. He argues that markets alone will underprovide (or fail to provide at all) for many public goods, whereas private goods are typically 'overprovided' due to the process of advertising creating an artificial demand above the individual's basic needs. Some scholars believe that this emphasis on the power of advertising and consequent overconsumption anticipated the drop in savings rates in the USA and elsewhere in the developing world.[4]
Galbraith proposed curbing the consumption of certain products through greater use of consumption taxes, arguing that this could be more efficient than other forms of taxation, such as labour or land taxes.
Galbraith's major proposal was a program he called "investment in men" — a large-scale publicly-funded education program aimed at empowering ordinary citizens. Galbraith wished to entrust citizens with the future of the American republic.
Volume 20, issue 4 of the Review of Political Economy was dedicated to to John Kenneth Galbraith's ideas.

Also from Wikipedia: His work included several best selling works throughout the fifties and sixties. After his retirement, he remained in the public consciousness by continuing to write new books and revise his old works as well as presenting a major series on economics for BBC television in 1977.[10] While some considered his views anachronistic during the pro-market, small-government, anti-regulation and low-tax orthodoxies which came to prominence in the 1980s, the downfall of those ideas' popularity with the late 2000's economic crisis has awoken interest in his theories once again.

Is the writer speculating that Obama will be turning to JKG's views in his presidency - both Kennedy and Clinton were fans.