John Kenneth Galbraith - The Age Of Uncertainty (1977)

The Age Of Uncertainty (1977)
=============================
• Studio: British Broadcasting Corporation
• Original Run: 1977
• URLs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Uncertainty
        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075641

Overview
========
Written, narrated and hosted by John Kenneth Galbraith.

The ideas of economists and social philosophers shape actions and events even when we are unaware of their sources. They have a decisive influence on the great rush of revolution and change through which the world has passed in the last two hundred years. Professor John Kenneth Galbraith traces these ideas and their consequences from Adam Smith, through Marx and Lenin, to Keynes and to the thinking that gave shape to the concepts of the Cold War, the corporation and, now, the conflicts and concerns of the Third World.

Episodes, Runtimes (mm:ss), Descriptions
========================================
• Episode 01 – The Prophets and Promise of Classical Capitalism (56:12): The ideological development of classical capitalism in Britain and France and its flowering into an accepted certainty in the United States in the late 19th century. It discusses the contributions of Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus.

• Episode 02 - The Manners and Morals of High Capitalism (55:51): The robber baron industrial capitalists of the late nineteenth century and examines their conspicuous consumption concept of earning and spending money. It discusses ways in which this concept affects our attitudes today.

• Episode 03 – Karl Marx: The Massive Dissent (56:11): The film opens with a view of Marx’s tomb. Galbraith enumerates the different qualities of Karl Marx. We are shown the home where he was born in Trier, Germany, and his early life history is recounted. Hegel and the University of Berlin stand out as a high-point.

• Episode 04 – The Colonial Idea (55:17): Focuses on colonialism and the colonial adventure, which Galbraith considers historically and as a continuing legacy.

• Episode 05 – Lenin and the Great Ungluing (56:08): The outbreak of the first world war, with its absurd unreason, should have triumphantly fulfilled Marx’s prophecy of the end of capitalism. The war and the events leading up to it are illustrated on stage by posturing knights. The life of Lenin is counterpointed with the scenes of war.

• Episode 06 – The Rise and Fall of Money (56:09): This program focuses on the history and function of money in society, which Galbraith considers through an analysis of the cycles of instability and inflation that plague the system.

• Episode 07 – The Mandarin Revolution (56:18): This program focuses on the world-wide slump that threatened economic disaster after World War I and the role of economist John Maynard Keynes’ ideas on saving the West.

• Episode 08 – The Fatal Competition (56:13): This program investigates the origins and development of the military and industrial economy as a result of the cold war and the continuing rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• Episode 09 – The Big Corporation (56:09): The corporation, as a myth and reality, is examined and dissected. Multi national corporations are prominent today, their image is similar no matter where the corporation is headquartered. Corporations are also leading the way in advancing capitalism as a form of governance that is in contradiction to and often times conflicting with democracy.

• Episode 10 – Land and People (56:06): This program focuses on the role of land in determining wealth and poverty and its effect on social and foreign policies.

• Episode 11 – The Metropolis (56:06): This video portrays problems of the industrial society as seen in the urban metropolis, which best reflects its uncertainty and crisis.

• Episode 12 – Democracy, Leadership, Commitment (56:04): Focuses on the processes and operation of democracy with a look at the American experiment. It combines Galbraith’s personal memoirs of leaders that he has known, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr, with emphasis on the role of individual action in government and organization.

• Episode 13 – Weekend in Vermont - Part 1 (58:00): Professor Galbraith at his Vermont home with a group of political leaders, discussing the economic state of the world. His guests include Henry Kissinger, Edward Heath, Shirley Williams, Jack Jones and Professor Ralf Dhrendorf. The discussion includes inflation, unemployment, and international economic problems.

• Episode 14 – Weekend in Vermont - Part 2 (44:42): Professor Galbraith at his Vermont home with a group of political leaders, discussing the economic state of the world. His guests include Henry Kissinger, Edward Heath, Shirley Williams, Jack Jones and Professor Ralf Dhrendorf. The discussion includes inflation, unemployment, and international economic problems.

• Episode 15 – Weekend in Vermont - Part 3 (53:45): Professor Galbraith at his Vermont home with a group of political leaders, discussing the economic state of the world. His guests include Henry Kissinger, Edward Heath, Shirley Williams, Jack Jones and Professor Ralf Dhrendorf. The discussion includes inflation, unemployment, and international economic problems.

* Note: Originally released on VHS cassette, each of the above videos was converted to AVI format by persons unknown and are presented here as found.

Media Info
==========
General #0
Format               : AVI
Format/Info          : Audio Video Interleave
Format/Family        : RIFF
Writing application  : VirtualDubMod 1.5.4.1 (build 2178/release)
Writing library      : VirtualDubMod build 2178/release

Video #0
Codec                : XviD
Codec/Family         : MPEG-4
Codec/Info           : XviD project
Codec settings/Packe : No
Codec settings/BVOP  : Yes
Codec settings/QPel  : No
Codec settings/GMC   : 0
Codec settings/Matri : Custom
Width                : 608 pixels
Height               : 464 pixels
Aspect ratio         : 4/3
Frame rate           : 29.970 fps
Resolution           : 8 bits
Chroma               : 4:2:0
Interlacement        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)   : 0.196
Writing library      : XviD0050

Audio #0
Codec                : MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
Bit rate mode        : VBR
Channel(s)           : 1 channel
Sampling rate        : 48 KHz
Resolution           : 16 bits
Writing library      : LAME3.98r