Customer Reviews

Cronies: Oil, The Bushes, And The Rise Of Texas, America's Superstate

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At first, I feared this book would be the 2004 winner of the Michael Lind Prize for Progressive Texans Dissing Texas. But "Cronies" didn't turn out like Lind's comically tendentious "Made In Texas: George W. Bush And The Southern Takeover Of American Politics (New America Books)" at all. Instead, Robert Bryce has assembled a pile of puzzle pieces in a way that not only makes a lot of sense, but that forms a picture the American electorate needs to see. As much as it pains me to agree with Molly Ivins about anything at all, this is excellent investigative reporting.

Bryce has gone back into the history of the Texas awl bidness and shown how, from the beginning, key players in that industry have cultivated their connections with politicians to increase their own wealth and power. Many Texas politicians, from LBJ and Sam Rayburn to Jim Wright, Tom DeLay, and a whole mess of Bushes, have been more than happy to be so cultivated, since it tends to result in floods of cash into their re-election campaigns, foundations, and presidential libraries. Though Bryce is far from the only writer shining a spotlight on Halliburton and Brown & Root these days, his work is among the best charting the complex web of ties between politics, the military, big business, and foreign policy. Combine all this incestuous intermingling with the international entanglements described in Chalmers Johnson's "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)," and you come up with an especially unsavory look at America's 50-plus year run of hand-over-first mercantilism.

My use of the term "mercantilism" is deliberate, because one complaint I do have about this book -- as I did with Michael Mann's "Incoherent Empire" -- is the author's apparent assumption that what he's describing is "capitalism." Toward the end of the book, he mentions, apparently without irony, "laissez-faire Texas Republicans" like DeLay and President Bush, even though he's just spent the previous 270 pages showing that their economic philosophy is anything *but* "leave us alone." The conscious crafting of government policy that deliberately promotes the interests of a certain sector of the economy has a name, and it ain't capitalism. It's "mercantilism." A little more precision here would have gone a long way in categorizing the true nature of everything he otherwise ties together so well.

As Lind's and other books show, Texas is a sweet target these days. I'm not convinced that the oil business is necessarily unique in the kinds of power and influence it has managed to acquire in government (for example, I recommend Linda Chavez's new "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics" to show how liberal Democrats have been bought and paid for by Big Labor -- and Bryce should enjoy a use of Scare Caps almost as copious as his own). But even pro-Bush, pro-business Republicans ought to take a good look at the vines that have been growing up around our republic and ask whether this is really the kind of thing the Founders had in mind.

Having already written on the Enron scandal, Robert Byrce is highly qualified to explore the growth of frighteningly close relations between energy companies and state and national government. Providing more depth and context than most exposures of government corruption, Bryce traces these relationships back to the East Texas Oil Wars of the 1930s, as he finds disturbing precedents for current global policy in then-govenor Ross Sterling's actions and the ascendancy of the Texas Railroad Commission. For me, having spent the last twelve years in Texas, the book was revelatory, exposing how the cultural background, greed, and personal relationships of Texas polticians, oilmen, and military contractors have been an important force in American politics for much of the twentieth century and how they now effectually dominate it. A long history of government tax breaks and subsidies for big energy donors tell a sorry tale that spares neither Democrats nor Republicans, and all the while the environment gets destroyed, most taxpayers get shafted deeper than the Daisy Bradford no. 3, social services and civil liberties get curtailed, and blankets of government secrecy "in the national interest" just continue to grow and grow. One of the most fascinating of many gripping chapters is on the Savings and Loan scandal of the eighties, a scandal that demonstrates how easily and cynically politics can be manipulated for the benefit of the powerful. Deregulation is a dangerous business, but not if you know the right people, and some of the people who make the most noise about the necessity of a free market have already (along with their cronies) rigged the game. The Bushes, Baker, Cheney, and Lay, among others, do not come off well in this book, but what separates this book from most others that have taken the current administration to task is its willingness to explore a wider culture--really an East Texas culture centered in Houston--and examine its disproportionate and frightening effects on the U.S., the Middle East, and--indeed--the whole wide world.

Although it has a fair amount of history that might scare the casual reader, the book largely avoids being a dry academic tome, by including maps, photos, summaries (as well as adequate notes and a bibliography), that help keep the fairly complex relationships clear. Although it is not stated, the book provides evidence that make a powerful argument for greater government transparency, and for greater vigilance on the public's part in monitoring the relations between government and business (we certainly can't trust the politicians to do it). Highly recommended for Texans, Americans, and indeed anyone who is interested in business, government, and the political process. Certainly, the book proves the old adage: when you aren't certain what's going on, just follow the money.

Very well done! This book shines the spotlight on perhaps the largest, most influential power cabal in the country, and possibly the world. If you were ever curious about why so many Texas based corporations loom so large within the sphere of US government, particularly from the 1930's to the present, this book will provide you with the answers. The literal melding of private defense related corporations into the government has produced a cash bonanza that has created billionaires who now get to determine the most critical aspects of US government policy. The author examines the rise of companies like Halliburton and Brown & Root, as well as the numerous oil companies, law firms, and political crony networks that provide the cash and clout to maintain the Texas based plutocracy which holds significant control over the rest of the country. Among other things, Bryce explores connections between the crony network and the Savings & Loan scandal, oil politics of the Middle East, both Presidents Bush, President Johnson, various congressional legislators, Enron, James Baker, Dick Cheney, and the usual cast of big oilmen. This book is for anyone who wants to know who holds the real power in this country, and how it got that way. This one should come with a bright red label that says "READ BEFORE THE ELECTION!"

A very well written and documented account of how the Texas Oil and Defense Industry have developed throughout history. A must read for anyone interested in how the U.S. and its policies, and in particular Texas business and businessmen, have contributed to our current geo-political environment with respect to the Middle East and OPEC. This book details many years of influence and power struggles which have created our government's policies to control the world's oil and the oil economies.

I'm not normally a big reader of either business (they tend to be boring) or political books (they tend towards the hysterical... and I don't mean funny). I picked up Cronies because I loved this author's amusing (yes funny) yet informative book, Pipe Dreams, about the implosion of Enron. I was curious to see what an author who could make a page-turner out of the Enron scandal could do with the ripe-for-humor landscape of American politics. And Cronies did not disappoint. Written with a wry and engaging tone the revelations in Cronies are, however, anything but funny. This book masterfully weaves together the ways in which Texas oil, Texas money, and Texas power have influenced American politics yesterday, today and if we're not careful, tomorrow.

Call me naïve, but I was surprised (okay, shocked) at the conflicts of interest running rampant from top down in the Bush Administration. Of course, not every appearance of impropriety amounts to an actual conflict of interest but, as Bryce points out, the extreme secrecy employed by the Administration to keep We The People from judging whether there is a conflict of interest or not is disturbing. For example, James Baker III is both the "Iraq debt czar" and also deemed exempt by the White House from publicly disclosing the specifics of his business dealings -- known to include vast oil interests. Through well documented research and citing numerous examples, Cronies demonstrates how the lines between Government, Military and Private (Oil) Industry are becoming increasingly blurred... so much so that we're left wondering who really is benefiting from current US foreign/oil policies. But we're not really left wondering... Bryce explains it: this is government by a few for a few.

Simply put, this book provides the missing perspective which explains why Texans such as Lyndon Johnson, Tom DeLay, and the Bushes have a sense of entitlement to do as they please with the world's petroleum reserves. Texas pioneered the methods for controling market price of petroleum by setting up a mechanism which brought order to the chaotic Texas oil fields during the boom period in the 20's through 50's. The man who established OPEC modeled OPEC after that Texan invention. The Texans, once they had tasted the power of control over Texas petroleum, couldn't then relinquish the love of control when it came to world petroleum supplies once the Texas reserves ran down. Now we're experiencing WWIII which is a struggle for control of the world's proven accessible reserves in Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula disguised as a "war on terror". The people have been fooled into fighting this resource war by the most unprincipled group of leaders in our history. But now many are questioning the real reasons we are in Iraq and Central Asia.

It has often been said that California is a bellwhether state, in that it sets trends that are followed by the rest of the US. In terms of culture and entertainment, this is true, but in terms of politics and economics, I would give that title to Texas after reading this book.

Cronies is about the history of Texas from 1900 to now, and how this history is centered around oil. Many events that have played out on the world's stage regarding oil have had preludes in Texas. OPEC and its economic power was preceded by the various alliances and pacts between Texan oil men. The 1991 Gulf War in the Middle East was preceded by fights over oil wells in Texas during the beginning of the century. And last but not least, those who master politics in Texas often acrrue the power and wealth needed for national politics. These individuals include LBJ and both Bushes.

This book provides many insights into the history of Texas, America, and the world, and how events in one of these three spheres has affected events in the other two. The book is well referenced, and fairly balanced in its treatment of both Democrats and Republicans. Overall, I highly recommend it.

I would like to split my rating and give 4.5 stars for research and 2 stars for the writing. Mr. Bryce has done his homework, and does a good job of tying together a number of people and situations to reveal an evolving plot to Texasize the United States. However, he could have used more information in some areas and a lot less in others (I don't care about so many details of the Rice Baker center dinner, especially what they ate or how many roses were delivered).
What this book badly needed was a good editor who wasn't afraid to slap the writer when his personal feelings got the best of him and his points were obscured by his overdramatizations. I'm not sure why they chose to insert the particular items in the appendix, either.
I got the feeling the publisher had high hopes for this subject, but then abandoned it and released it very quietly. Still, overall, a worthwhile read.

Investigative journalist Robert Bryce looks at the past and present of corporate welfare, Texas style, in this easy to read and relevant volume.

During the Great Depression, via regulation to manage the sale of Texas 'hot oil' and the development of the prorationing system, federal power was co-opted to protect key Texas Big Oil interests, not just oil companies, but the whole network of drillers, contractors and law firms.

The business / political power network required to maintain this system grew under the umbrella of the New Deal, the Democratic Party ...and LBJ's political career grew in tandem with it.

The same network was able to obtain and sustain "oil depletion allowances" giving tax breaks unique in the US system. At the same time, the Texas Railroad Commission, a key state agency in regulating the oil flow became the model for the OPEC cartel. The crony network is really the oily underside of the New Deal coalition.

Bryce's focus on Texas petro-politics unfortunately fails to recognise the growing academic and empirical literature on the political economy of the New Deal from economists such as Leonard Arrington, Don Reading and Gavin Wright that has illustrated that party political, not humanitarian priorities, drove the actual allocation of New Deal funding. If these non-Texan examples were more explicitly acknowledged a more balanced perspective would emerged. There is cronyism outside of Texas and the massive growth of big government, driven by concerns of war and welfare, has left in it's wake a massive engine for cronyism, with or without Texan good ol' boys.

Bryce's critique is thankfully bipartisan and neither side of US politics is allowed slip off the oily hook. The Texas crony network was courted by, and eventually seduced by both the Bush family and the new "Big Government conservatism" of the Republicans. And, according to Bryce, recent US wars in the Persian Gulf are a case of deja vu. They have their precedent in the 1930s deployment of the Texas National Guard to dynamite wells from "hot oil" wildcatters whose "unfair competition" undercut the prices and profits of the politically well connected.

This is a fascinating case study of what happens when big government is embedded with big business. There are lessons here for liberals and conservatives alike. Bryce steers clear of explicitly stating the obvious political economy lessons perhaps to prevent his book from being prematurely pidgeon holed. But it would seem to me that the lesson can be summarised quite simply. When free enterprise is replaced by a web of regulations, no one profits but the spiders. Even in Texas.

Robert Bryce's previous book, Pipe Dreams, was a brilliant and rampaging indictment of corporate hubris, and that led into this book about the Texas energy industry's influence on modern American politics. This one tackles wider-ranging issues, and consequently is a little less powerful, although Bryce is a strong investigative journalist who is great at finding patterns and influences hidden beneath vast trends of politics and finance. Not only do Texas politicians and their cronies hold unprecedented power these days, but a uniquely Texas-style form of governance has taken over in Washington. Bryce begins his study in the early 20th century when the oil barons in Texas started to gain political power that reached far beyond the local oil fields. And Bryce's major investigative breakthrough here is in how the current neoconservative philosophy of government is directly descended from old Texas wheeling and dealing that empowered filthy rich oil plutocrats.

Hence we can see the roots, and modern effects, of the GWB administration's entire style of governance, in which the enrichment of the energy industry dictates foreign and domestic policy to a sickening degree, and officials are deemed qualified for important positions based on their position in the old boys' network and how much they have donated to the Republican party. (Though Bryce didn't look into FEMA as an example, the cronyism there has now had catastrophic results for all to see.) Or to put it more bluntly, Texas cronies govern with no other goal than enriching Texas cronies. With a great writing style that pulls few punches, and investigations into the tangled webs of money and influence amongst the plutocrats of power, Bryce shows that oil is king. And unless you're one of those cronies, your concerns and welfare are invisible and meaningless. [~doomsdayer520~]