false 2851285 2 The cult of the free market has dominated economic policy-talk since the Reagan revolution of nearly thirty years ago. Tax cuts and small government, monetarism, balanced budgets, deregulation, and free trade are the core elements of this dogma, a dogma so successful that even many liberals accept it. But a funny thing happened on the bridge to the twenty-first century. While liberals continue to bow before the free-market altar, conservatives in the style of George W. Bush have abandoned it altogether. That is why principled conservatives -- the Reagan true believers -- long ago abandoned Bush.<br><br>Enter James K. Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist. In this riveting book, Galbraith first dissects the stale remains of Reaganism and shows how Bush and company had no choice except to dump them into the trash. He then explores the true nature of the Bush regime: a "corporate republic," bringing the methods and mentality of big business to public life; a coalition of lobbies, doing the bidding of clients in the oil, mining, military, pharmaceutical, agribusiness, insurance, and media industries; and a predator state, intent not on reducing government but rather on diverting public cash into private hands. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message.<br><br>Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to "make markets work"? Why not build a new economic policy based on what is really happening in this country?<br><br>The real economy is not a free-market economy. It is a complex combination of private and public institutions, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, higher education, the housing finance system, and a vast federal research establishment. The real problems and challenges -- inequality, climate change, the infrastructure deficit, the subprime crisis, and the future of the dollar -- are problems that cannot be solved by incantations about the market. They will be solved only with planning, with standards and other policies that transcend and even transform markets.<br><br>A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, <I>The Predator State</i> will appeal to the broad audience of thoughtful Americans who wish to understand the forces at work in our economy and culture and who seek to live in a nation that is both prosperous and progressive. 2877418 5 8 2008 The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too total:39|5:15|4:14|3:6|2:4|1:0| 39 157 124 13 5 1 false false Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 13:32:12 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 06:44:19 -0800 2009 I was completely wrong about everything I heretofore believed about capitalism; I think I’ll have a...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 12:42:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 13:48:04 -0800 2009
Given the recent financial...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 21:10:54 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 21:43:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 08:52:30 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 06:43:50 -0700 2009 I will have much more to say on this book in an upcoming column. Suffice it to say that if I could insist that the president read just one book, any book, it would be this one.

I have critiques sure — early on it could use either more technical backing up, or more layperson-friend...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 08 08:54:20 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 09:44:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 06:48:49 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 05:11:42 -0700 2009 do in college? –– but the final 33 1/3% was roughly 80% comprehensible and actually persuasive in its way a good 65% of the time.
Enjoyable Fact: Galbraith père spoke at one of my own father's numerous ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Oct 29 08:09:08 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 08:10:58 -0700 2008
BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
What should we do with a free market that's really a rigged market?

James K. Gailbrath has some answers.

James K Gailbrath: "Today, the signature of modern American capitalism is neither benign...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 04 07:19:30 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 07:20:17 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Dec 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 12:56:04 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 12:57:11 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Mon Jun 15 21:44:11 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 21:44:52 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Thu Jan 08 08:52:49 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 22:38:05 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 16 05:48:02 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 16 05:50:01 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 10:04:11 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 10:05:20 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Nov 09 16:27:26 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 16:27:53 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 07 06:38:21 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 06:38:21 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 26 22:19:49 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 22:20:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 19 13:23:05 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 15:36:32 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 13 15:08:25 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 15:35:06 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Aug 26 09:41:10 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 09:41:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 25 07:49:58 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 07:50:11 -0700 2009