Introduction : two tragedies -- The laissez faire benchmark -- Freedom reined : the progressive era through the public interest era -- Freedom, responsibility, and accountability -- The intellectual and financial foundations -- The idea infrastructure -- The influence infrastructure -- The assaults on regulation -- Worker safety -- Environmental protection -- Drug and device safety -- Food safety -- Transportation safety -- Financial protection -- Consumer protection -- Civil justice -- Disabled government -- Patch-and-repair -- Striking a new bargain -- Conclusions
Summary
"This book tells the story of how the business community, and the trade associations and think tanks that it created, launched three powerful assaults during the last quarter of the twentieth century on the federal regulatory system and the state civil justice system to accomplish a revival of the laissez faire political economy that dominated Gilded Age America. Although the consequences of these assaults became painfully apparent in a confluence of crises during the early twenty-first century, the patch-and-repair fixes that Congress and the Obama administration put into place did little to change the underlying laissez faire ideology and practice that continues to dominate the American political economy. In anticipation of the next confluence of crises, Thomas McGarity offers suggestions for more comprehensive governmental protections for consumers, workers, and the environment."--Publisher's description
