"We're going to go through hell, quite frankly."
That, according to noted economist James Galbraith Monday at the NAVA marketing conference in New York. After an hour of thoroughly depressing news, the analytical minds in the audience asked him to bottom-line it all, and that simple answer is what they got. The saving grace was that his presentation dovetailed nicely with cocktail hour, and drinks flowed freely to counteract the sour mood. I was going to go on about a cold rain blanketing the city, but I think I've pegged the schmaltz needle.
The timing of Galbraith's appearance couldn't have been better. As the son of famed Keynesian John Kenneth Galbraith ("price czar" in FDR's New Deal and a friend and colleague of John Kennedy) he had pretty good insight into the merits of the Great Depression analogy currently (and cavalierly) thrown about. When he raised a point about price controls instituted by his father, his "I know this because I asked him" quip pricked a few ears.
