"When I Go There, I Go There With You. It Is All I Can Do."*

I restarted John Kenneth Galbraith's Economics, Peace, and Laugher. There has never been a writer who makes me so angry. But I cannot put him down. Most everything he says is so wrongheaded and pompous, but I agree with his basic assertion that economists are fake. I agree that the world should be better.

Here is how I described Galbraith in The Affluent Society:

Galbraith's major flaw is the same as Leontief. He assumes ceteris paribus always holds. Nothing changes except what he wants to change. A better educated society still wants pornography, tobacco, and drugs. The masses are always the masses, no matter how much education they have. Galbraith cannot see what is not seen. He has no vision.

But Galbraith makes me think. He challenges me in different ways.

I have two ideas. First I would like to raise $25,000. I would go to Africa or Southeast Asia and find the best entrepreneurs. I would make loans and contribute any expertise I have. I would promise to pay the $25,000 plus interest back in ten years.

Or I could start a school in Southwest Virginia. I would probably need $50,000 to do this, and I could not promise to pay anything back. I would have to use a church or something similar as a school. I would have to convince my sister or someone like my sister to teach. But I would be successful and prove GGM wrong.

* U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name" is a beautiful song.