dr. galbraith if somebody says free trade, what do you think about? >> i think it is an illusion of trade in the modern world is a matter of transnational of work of production managed. there is no such thing as free trade. if there were it would have been disrupted long ago by the emergence of modern china. >> return to the gold standard. >> another illusion. gold is an archaic symbol of monetary stability. there are some people that still hold on to that but it is impractical in the modern world. >> and the fed? >> i think we need a functioning federal reserve. i spent much of my career in congress on the oversight of the federal reserve. the real challenge there is to have a federal reserve that serves the country and is not the hand made of the largest banks. >> james galbraith thinks for joining us here at the university of texas. >> my pleasure. >> up next booktv interviewed jake, the owner of alabama book smith during our recent visit to birmingham alabama as a part of the city to work examining the culture of eight southeastern cities. >> in t