wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this show
Remembering John Kenneth Galbraith
photo

by Tom Ashbrook.

Famed economist, teacher and diplomat John Kenneth Galbraith died last weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 97.

A towering figure both literally, at a rugged six feet eight inches, and figuratively, in the realm of liberal social and political thought. In his books “The Affluent Society,” “American Capitalism” and scores more, Galbraith was a powerful communicator of a particular, passionate view of the world.

He served decades of presidents and young scholars. He named “the conventional wisdom,” and always pulled beyond it. Four years ago On Point interviewed Galbraith on post-9.11 America, war and peace. This hour listens back to that interview.

This hour On Point: a last conversation with John Kenneth Galbraith.

Guests:

John Kenneth Galbraith speaking to Tom Ashbrook in 2002

Robert Solow, professor emeritus and University Professor at MIT, won Nobel Prize for economics

 
 

Comments are closed.

On Point Today
Hour 2
Robots Among Us
Thursday, July 9, 2009 image

Robots among us. iRobot CEO Colin Angle on the business and science of robotics now.

Comments [37]
 
Hour 1
Stimulus, Part Two?
Thursday, July 9, 2009 image

Debate mounts over a “Stimulus II.” But with talk of a “fiscal train wreck,” can America afford to spend more on stimulus? Top Obama advisor Christina Romer weighs in.

Comments [45]

Recent Shows
U.S. Nuns and the Vatican
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 image

The Catholic Church in Rome moves to scrutinize — maybe rein in — American nuns. We’ll talk with sisters on the front lines.

Comments [43]
 
Trouble in Honduras
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 image

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya comes to Washington for help. We’ll ask what the coup against him means for Honduras, and for democracy in Latin America.

Comments [47]
On Point Blog
Christina Romer on the Stimulus

Christina Romer, chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, joined us in our first hour today to talk about the economy and the debate over whether a second round of stimulus is needed. Asked about Vice President Biden’s recent remarks, that the administration had “misread how bad the economy was,” she replied:  “It’s important to realize [...]

More »
 
Ten Minutes with Brzezinski

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski joined Tom from Washington, D.C. this morning and shared his impressions of President Obama’s first face-to-face meetings with Russia’s leaders.  Brzezinski called it a “sober and realistic summit, one which didn’t create undue expectations, but one which also marked some real progress…. There was, in a sense, an unstated agreement to disagree, and that’s [...]

More » | Comments [1]
 
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. After all, America emits only [...]

More » | Comments [1]