The Case for Big Government

by Madrick, Jeff; O'Brien, Ruth

• ISBN13: 9781400834808
• ISBN10: 1400834805
• Copyright: 2010-03-21
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Political conservatives have long believed that the best government is a small government. But if this were true, noted economist Jeff Madrick argues, the nation would not be experiencing stagnant wages, rising health care costs, increasing unemployment, and concentrations of wealth for a narrow elite. In this perceptive and eye-opening book, Madrick proves that an engaged government--a big government of high taxes and wise regulations--is necessary for the social and economic answers that Americans desperately need in changing times. He shows that the big governments of past eras fostered greatness and prosperity, while weak, laissez-faire governments marked periods of corruption and exploitation.The Case for Big Governmentconsiders whether the government can adjust its current policies and set the country right.Madrick explains why politics and economics should go hand in hand; why America benefits when the government actively nourishes economic growth; and why America must reject free market orthodoxy and adopt ambitious government-centered programs. He looks critically at today's politicians--at Republicans seeking to revive nineteenth-century principles, and at Democrats who are abandoning the pioneering efforts of the Great Society. Madrick paints a devastating portrait of the nation's declining social opportunities and how the economy has failed its workers. He looks critically at today's politicians and demonstrates that the government must correct itself to address these serious issues.A practical call to arms,The Case for Big Governmentasks for innovation, experimentation, and a willingness to fail. The book sets aside ideology and proposes bold steps to ensure the nation's vitality.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface to the Paperback Edition	p. xiii
Government and Change in America	p. 1
The Danger of an Ideology
The Evidence
Looking-Back Narratives from the Right and Left
The Myth of Laissez-Faire
The Many Uses of Government in the 1800s
Government as an Agent of Change in the 1900s
The Economic Benefits of Government
Resisting a Pragmatic Government
How Much We Have Changed	p. 65
The History of Change
The New Challenge to the Standard of Living
The Broad Threat to the American Promise
It's Not Just Inequality
When Knowledge Also Changes
The Purpose of Government
Forsaking Pragmatism for Ideology
What to Do 125 Pessimism in America
The Failure of Conventional Wisdom
America Has the Money
An Agenda
Notes	p. 177
Index	p. 195
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