John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006).

Affluent Society, Part 2 to the Life & Works of
John Kenneth Galbraith

Galbraith's first big seller was his Affluent Society (1958). It most likely contributed (and likely to a significant degree) to the "war on poverty," being a disastrous government spending policy first brought on by Kennedy and Johnson. This policy (both in the United States and in Canada) not only brought on ruinous levels of debt but split the country in to those who have the jobs and those who do not. "The war on poverty of which so much has been made since then has been able to make excellent careers and many thousands of civil servants of academic people who have been able to do study after study on poverty."3
As for the book:

"The main content of the book was not really affluence of society. Rather it was devoted to other themes: to denigrating the tastes of ordinary people, the tastes of those who prefer pushpin to poetry, who prefer large tailfins to nice, compact, expensive little cars. It was directed to developing the advantages of extending the power of government. A major theme was the alleged contrast between private affluence and public squalor."4
Professor Rothbard in his criticisms of the Affluent Society: It is "replete with fallacies ... dogmatic assertions and time-honoured rhetorical devices in place of reasoned argument."5

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Peter Landry

2011 (2019)