Galbraith & Reich

Galbraith

The premise that Galbraith makes, that America is an affluent society, is quite correct. America is around the sixth richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita. Affluence is primarily shown through leisure, the amount of wealth an average person has to their name, and things such as the arts that demand money to be supported. Other things such as infrastructure are both a sign of affluence and a catalyst for influence. As you read Galbraith mentions that this is also important to the poor to help them get to work without having a vehicle. He does not mention how important it is to attract businesses. The wealthiest nations in the world, Qatar and Luxemburg invest heavily in infrastructure, something the united states has failed to do and is falling behind in.

Reich

A government should, for a time, attempt to provide work for routine workers who might not otherwise have it. As mentioned earlier America's infrastructure is lacking, this would be a perfect outlet for unemployed workers. This should not be government's main focus though. It should instead concentrate on the one thing America was good at in its past, which is ideas. In our nation's history we have been a developer of ideas. We arrived at the moon first, invented coca-cola, and developed technology that other countries acquired much later. The one thing we were good at is now gone. As our education system lags behind other developed countries and their children trump ours in test scores consistently, we lose our footing in the global economy. Reich describes that the stable jobs left for American workers are the ones that require knowledge. As other countries invest more in their education, more in research, and don't spend absurd amounts of money on precarious wars, the days of America as a world power will fade ever faster into history. So, in conclusion, we should attempt to carry our routine workers for a time but most of our efforts as a country need to be on maintaining our position in the world through investment in ourselves that matches that of other comparable nations.