Word: marvins
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Galbraith, after all, is a thinly veiled narrator--he assumes a number of fictional personas throughout his book. The most obvious of them, the character most closely allied with Galbraith's own public persona, is the title character, Montgomery Marvin, a professor of economics...
...When Marvin suggests that aspiring professors hide their liberal tendencies until they are assured of tenure, the ever cynical McCrimmon responds, "That's the only sensible couse...
...maverick Marvin is the strongest satiric vehicle, and the true center of action. He learns to index irrational investment expectations, and with the prodding of a liberal-minded wife, he finds over-optimistic companies. He borrows stock in them and then sells it. And when the company fails, the professor replaces the stock at its original prices, keeping the difference...
With the millions of dollars he makes, Marvin sets about treating some of the world's ills. He forces companies to acknowledge the number of female executives they have, and publish those numbers on their product labels and in their stock reports. He establishes Political Rectitude Committees (PRCs) which give matching funds to the opponents of political candidates supported by PACs. He establishes "peace professorships" at the various military colleges. He even buys Harvard's South Africa-related investments, and forces divestment...
...when Marvin buys a TV station, and suggests it give as much air-time to peace organizations as it does to military news, Marvin goes too far. This economics professor who invests against optimism and supports peace is suddenly and vigorously condemned as un-American...