The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too

The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too

by JamesK.Galbraith (Author), James Kenneth Galbraith (Author)

Synopsis

For nearly three decades, Washington has been in the grip of an economic orthodoxy defined by Ronald Reagan and embraced ardently by George W. Bush. It rests on four pillars: 1) Cut taxes on the wealthy, 2) Reduce regulation, 3) Fear inflation above all else, and 4) Insist on free-floating currency rates. Yet mainstream economists have spent much of the past decade examining the results, and declaring them rotten. Supply-side stimulation is a mirage. Deficits matter. Inequality matters. The disasters in Latin America--bread riots in Argentina, inflationary madness in Brazil - and Africa - bankrupt governments and capital flight - were a direct result of the Reagan-Bush agenda. James Galbraith is fed up, and determined to close the gap between what the economists know, and what the politicians ignore. In plain English, the Republican Party has been hijacked by political leaders who long since stopped caring if reality conformed to their message. Galbraith exposes the crumbling pillars one by one, naming names and pulling no punches. If you thought you should vote Republican for the sake of the economy, think again. Here's the j'accuse that the Bush economic agenda richly deserves - and a plan for what should replace it.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Edition: 1st Free Press Hardcover Ed
Publisher: The Free Press
Published: 18 Aug 2008

ISBN 10: 141656683X
ISBN 13: 9781416566830

Media Reviews
James Galbraith has written an extremely challenging book. Although its principal target is conservative economics, it is no less critical of conventional liberalism. Galbraith correctly recognizes that today both approaches are intellectually bankrupt and incapable of addressing the nation's pressing economic problems. I hope The Predator State stimulates needed debate among both liberals and conservatives on the mistakes both sides have made that have gotten us to where we are now. -- Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
Author Bio
James K. Galbraith teaches economics and a variety of other subjects at the University of Texas. He holds degrees in economics from Harvard and Yale. He studied economics as a Marshall Scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and then served in several positions on the staff of the US Congress, including Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee. He is the son of renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith