Galbraith & Reich

One of Galbraith’s most basic premises is that America is now an affluent society. Examine indetail the society that you know for the purposes of validating or contradicting that assertion. IsAmerica an affluent society? What are the signs of affluence? What qualifies as affluence? Whatare the results of affluence?

Galbraith states that an affluent society is one that "prevents parents from passing on poverty to their children." Using this concept,  America at times can be considered affluent, but in most cases we are not. There are thousands of people who are unemployed and homeless and our country is in debt. Not every parent can pass on wealth to their children and if they do not all the time will it keep their children out of poverty. 

Some signs of affluence could be the amount of money spent on skyscrapers and homes. What qualifies as affluence I believe is money and power. And the results of affluence are developed cities and technology, developed military force, and many other things.

To what extent is it the government’s responsibility to provide jobs to people who would otherwise not be able to get them? For example, should the government provide jobs for routine workers if their opportunities dry up? What arguments favor or oppose such a proposal?

The government does not take a very strong responsibility when it comes to providing people with jobs who cannot obtain them. And I believe it depends on the situation if the government should help or not. For example, there are so many veterans who are living on the streets because they cannot get a job and this is one of the cases where the government should get involved and do everything they can to help that person find work. Some people might argue in favor of the government becoming more involved because they are out of work and having trouble finding a new job. Some people might argue against the government getting involved because there are people out of work who did not work hard enough like others did and so people believe that those who don't work hard shouldn't get help when it comes to finding a job.