Thanks to Arnold Kling for pointing out this Robert Skidelsky review of Richard Parker’s new book, John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics (Farrar, Straus 2005), which contains the following earthy observation on economics from the late Lyndon B. Johnson, made to Galbraith while Johnson was throwing away a Galbraith-authored draft of a speech:

“Did yíever think, Ken, that making a speech on ee-co-nomics is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.”