The PreachingnProfiteernJohn Kenneth Galbraith: The Age of Uncertainty;nby Stephen R. MaloneynxVeading John Kenneth Galbraith’snThe Age of Uncertainty reminds us ofnthe famous dialogue between Hemingwaynand Fitzgerald. “The rich are differentnfrom you and me,” said Fitzgerald.n”Yes,” said Hemingway, “they have morenmoney.” Galbraith agrees that the richnhave more money—and he resents it.nHis hatred, however, makes neither anscientific nor moral argument.nThe Age of Uncertainty IS a monumentnto the mischief wrought by academicnscribblers and dismal scientists—nthe economists. The book demonstratesnthat Whig historicism is still alive, ifngasping a trifle emphysematically, peddlingnits questionable doctrine of intellectualnprogress. All of economic history,none is led to believe labored mightily,nfrom the quaint doctrines of Adam Smithnand David Ricardo through the sophisticatednanalyses of Irving Fisher andnJohn Keynes to bring forth… Galbraith.nA depressing thought.nProfessor George Stigler has writtenna marvelous review of “John KennethnGalbraith’s Marathon Television Series”‘n(in reference to the BBC series that occasionednthis volume). Stigler demonstratesnthat Galbraith has little economicsnHoughton Mifflin Company; Boston, 1977.n’^NationalReview, May 27, 1977, pp. 601-604.n6nChronicles of Culturenand less cultural history, and I don’t seenany reason to replicate Stigler’s criticisms.nHowever, there is value in consideringnThe Age of Uncertainty (it’s the age, notnGalbraith, that is uncertain) as spiritualnautobiography. Considering the book innthis way allows us to touch on matters ofnimport especially the increasing dominancenof the “academic-political-bureaucraticncomplex” at the expense of thenprivate sector.nThe average man probably thinksnof Galbraith as a writer of books, a teachernat Harvard and an occasional straightnman for TV talk show hosts. However,nGalbraith’s whole career can be seen asnan attempt to evade academic and intellectualnresponsibility. He has been anspeech-writer for Eugene McCarthy, annambassador to India under Johnson, annadvisor to Kennedy. He has testified, bynhis own recollection, for a total of 120ndays before Congress. And now he is antelevision star.nHe is most at home, though, as ancontroller of other people’s lives. Thenkey event in his life he describes thisnway: “In the spring of 19411 was put inncharge of price control, one of the mostnpowerful economic positions of the wartimenyears. To say I was overjoyed wouldnbe a gross understatement. In a few weeksnwe outgrew the Blaine House (the abodenof Washington price controllers) . . .nnnThree times during the war we burst atnthe housing seams and had to move …nWith minor exceptions we eventually hadncontrol of all the prices in the UnitednStates … If anyone left our offices withna smile, we felt we had not done our job.nTo be effective, price control had to benpainful.”nCritics for publications such as thenNation delight in telling us aboutnGalbraith’s wonderful sense of irony. Itnis irony used as anesthetic: Galbraith’sntoo intelligent not to know that thenbureaucratic ethos equals knavery. Butndoes he—does any price-fixing bureaucratn— see the irony between his regulatorynprofligacy (and booming, unregulatedncosts) and his implacable will to denynmere mortal businessmen such growth,nsuch increasing expenditures?nWhat Galbraith is attempting in hisnlife and art is to redefine the notion ofnstatus in America — and the world.nPolitics, a pinch of academic training, angracious helping of country life—in suchnthings Galbraith grounds his theory ofnvalue. The shimmering political capitalsnof the world, Washington and Delhi, hencontrasts to the blackened industrialncities, Birmingham and Pittsburgh.nAgainst the vulgar Moorish revival mansionsnof the plutocrats he sets the townhousenin Georgetown, the cottage innVermont, the vacation retreat in Gstadd,nSwitzerland. Against the voluptuousnCadillac convertibles of Texas boors, hensings the merits of the “people car”nspawned by Hitler, but reclaimed by hisnbeloved Berkeley and Cambridge. Henpreaches a lifestyle of egalitarianism fornprofit.nX^ew people have noted the reactionarynnature of modern academic liberalism.nGalbraith despises those unspeakablenbusinessmen — those Rockefellers,nCarnegies, Mellons and Vanderbilts, “allnof whom made their money by producingnDr. Maloney taught English poetry atnthe Universities of Rochester and Georgianand now chooses to work for the PhillipsnPetroleum Company.n