ABSTRACT
This book’s title is a reference to the esteemed and much-awarded economist G.K. Galbraith’s 1996 book The Good Society: The Humane Agenda. 192 In that excellent book he lays the groundwork for a good society operating within a capitalist economy. As a self-declared liberal, he was denounced by some in the extreme USA as a Communist, and yet all he had said accords with how most Europeans, Australasians and Japanese see the good society. He talked of the redistributive necessity of taxation, of the absolute necessity of good education for all for the sake of democracy, social mobility and mental well-being, and concern and care for the environment. He was not hot on examples, and his was a theoretical perspective that has stood the test of the last 20 years. He saw the need for competition, creativity and innovation, along with equality and a lack of 218discrimination, to create a meritocratic society that would be fair for all. What was not to like? Well, there were some, and still are today, who saw and see as false targets his emphasis on equal education for all, his highlighting of racial discrimination in the USA, and his concern for the environment.
