James K. Galbraith
Says More…
This week in Say More, PS talks with James K. Galbraith, Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
Project Syndicate: US President Joe Biden’s economic approval rating is very low, you pointed out last September, because living standards have not risen during his administration. Can anything be done before November’s election to give voters hope of “better results in their own pocket,” and what policies along these lines should Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden has now endorsed to succeed him, include in her platform?
James K. Galbraith: With just a few months to go before the vote, nothing will alter impressions formed over four years. Nor do platforms matter; they lost credibility with American voters long ago. Beyond the election, if US leaders are truly committed to improving Americans’ living standards, they must demilitarize the country, curb the power of oligarchs in finance and technology, establish public utilities in banking and energy, and enact a federal job guarantee. Speaking broadly, they must tackle the problem of “private opulence and public squalor,” to use a very old phrase, in order to restore “social balance.”
Key tests for the next administration will include the scourges of homelessness, drug addiction, and physical decay in both urban and rural areas. I would like to be more optimistic than I am.