The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

James Galbraith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2008

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.

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.

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?

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.

A timely, provocative work whose message will endure beyond this election season, The Predator State 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Galbraith, noted economist and son of the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith, offers his views on the gap between conservative ideology and its use and abuse to cover up the George W. Bush administration’s Predator State, which takes advantage of the public sector and undermines public institutions for private profit. Galbraith reports that although most academics have abandoned conservative principles such as free trade, deregulation, and tax cuts for the wealthy, politicians from both parties continue to advance policies that, in reality, have turned regulatory agencies over to business lobbies, allowed the subprime mortgage foreclosures and banking crisis, and created Medicare’s drug plan, which legislates monopoly pricing for drug companies. Galbraith’s solutions include planning (contending that the U.S. does not plan); standards for wages, product and occupational safety, and the environment; and stabilizing financial and security policy. Not everyone will agree with Galbraith’s progressive beliefs, but he offers an important perspective in this thought-provoking book written in plain English. Excellent resource for library patrons. --Mary Whaley

Review

"Shows how to break the spell that conservatives have cast over the minds of liberals (and everyone else) for many years." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001)

"James Galbraith elegantly and effectively counters the economic fundamentalism that has captured public discourse in recent years, and offers a cogent guide to the real political economy. Myth-busting, far-ranging, and eye-opening." -- Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley

"With a combination of erudition, insight, and wit worthy of John Kenneth Galbraith, Thorstein Veblen, and John Maynard Keynes, James K. Galbraith offers a critique of the conventional unwisdom about the economy that is as compelling as it is provocative." -- Michael Lind, Whitehead Senior Fellow at The New America Foundation and author of The American Way of Strategy

"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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1st Free Press Hardcover Ed edition (August 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 141656683X
• ASIN: B002BWQ4UA
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,239,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 154 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars All men are created equal October 9, 2008

By Donald L. Samsal Jr.

Format:Hardcover

I must say that this book turned what I believe about the economy on its head, but it also enlightened me about how the economy is connected to fairness and equality. I used to think that our biggest problem was deficit spending, but now I see the biggest problem is fairness. Galbraith, who is the son of the famous John K. Galbraith who wrote The Modern Industrial State, which I read 40 years ago and gave me my first insights into how the economy works, describes how inequity in wages has distorted the market and created an environment not unlike Alice in Wonderland where people disenfranchise themselves by believing that free markets are somehow all-seeing and lead to the greatest possible good. Galbraith makes a case against this hands-off approach to markets and argues that unregulated markets will lurch from one bubble to the next. Crises like global warming will never be dealth with because there is no financial incentive to do so. Planning is the only thing that can save us and will have to involve a serious political battle because the corporations have saturated the media with the belief that the markets work best when left alone, which prescription leaves most of us on the bottom level of the next pyramid scheme while the corporate executives accumulate vast fortunes for themselves at our expense. The writing isn't bad, but it can be a bit hard to see what he's driving at at times. The resolutions he offers at the end make the read worth while. This book came out in Spring of 2008. Given the financial meltdown here in the Fall, the warnings in this book are eerily prescient.

96 of 119 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting thesis, although not totally convincing November 5, 2008

By Steven A. Peterson TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

James Galbraith, this book's author, is the son of famous economist John Kenneth Galbraith. His father was an important figure in economics, with books such as "The New Industrial State" on his resume. I mention this since this volume mentions Galbraith pere approvingly on a number of occasions.

Galbraith begins by noting that our economic discussion is based on a fallacy--that free markets and competition govern our economic sphere. This idea is now the dominant view of how an economic system ought to function in the United States. He goes on to say that (Page xi): ". . .the doctrine serves as a kind of legitimation myth--something to be repeated to schoolchildren but hardly taken seriously by those on the inside." The guiding metaphor for this book, a predatory state, is outlined early on by Galbraith. He says that this refers to (Page xiii): "the systematic abuse of public institutions for private profit or, equivalently, the systematic undermining of public protections for the benefit of private clients."

He develops this thesis, beginning with a first chapter entitled "Whatever happened to the conservatives?" He begins by noting the elements of the Reagan revolution (or Reaganomics as it was then termed)--(1) tax reduction to trigger investment and economic growth; (2) tight money to halt the inflation that had sapped the energy of the economy; (3) deregulation and assaults on unions, to, once more, let market forces rule. He goes on to argue that, first, this perspective did NOT achieve what its supporters allege, and, second, that contemporary conservatives have in essence abandoned these principles to "take over" the government and use that power to enhance the interests of the moneyed and powerful class.... As a result, Regan's vision has been replaced by "the predator state," which he defines as (Page 131) ". . .a coalition of relentless opponents of the regulatory framework on which public purpose depends, with enterprises whose major lines of business compete with or encroach on the principle public functions of the enduring New Deal."

If that is the problem, what would the solution be? Galbraith suggests three components of addressing the predator state. One is to institute a system of planning, to think ahead and not depend on short term profit making motives of business enterprises. Another is for government to become more involved in setting wages and ensuring a more equal distribution of pay and income (his argument is that there is no evidence that letting wealthy people get wealthier has positive economic benefits). Three, the United States is part of a world economy, and that should help to discipline and inform our policy.

His policy proposal? If you want higher wages, raise them? If you want better jobs--create them. If you want safer foods and cleaner air, mandate it. Don't depend on the market. Just do it. That won't sit well, of course, with those who advocate markets as the answer. But, then, by the terms of his argument, the market will not do that since it does not describe how things work. The final chapter examines how one might pay for his policy choices.

Plenty of examples are mentioned. This is a book that is not always clear in what it argues, although that is not a major problem. It does provoke reflection on how things work, and that is to the good. I must confess that I am not convinced by what are, generically, referred to as conspiracy theories, and this book has a flavor of a conspiracy at work. Nonetheless, in the aftermath of the economic troubles that have beset the United States and other countries, it is useful to examine alternate perspectives and see if they add anything of value to discourse.

3 1/2 stars. . . . Read more ›

89 of 114 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book August 18, 2008

By Laying low and trying to think

Format:Hardcover

Searing insights into neoclassical economics (the academic standard),past conservative economic policies, and liberal acquiesence to the conservative mantra of free markets. This book is a must (so are all good commentaries)even for those that profess ignorance of economics in companionship with McCain. If you want to know why the U. S. is terribly awry and needs attention and sweat and great effort to come about to some semblance of normalcy but you didn't have the metaphors or knowledge to tackle the contortions of the past and present, read this even if you are not an economist. This is about the enslavement of our government to the will of the wealthy and the corporations and how and what can be done.
Most who pay attention know this, but do they understand it quite as well as elucidated by this great economist?

An long ago graduate in economics,and, institutional economist from, U. of Texas,Austin

31 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful Economist Helps Us Understand the 2008 Economic Meltdown October 26, 2008

By Daryl Kulak

Format:Hardcover

When I first picked up this book, I did so because the title and sub-title was threatening and abusive to my own thinking. I had to find out what an accomplished economist knew that I didn't know about my deeply held beliefs about capitalism and economics.

What an interesting book. The American Economy was in a much different state when I began reading this book (early Sep 2008) than when I finished it (late Oct 2008). I think what I learned from this book has helped me think about possible solutions for our economic meltdown.

Here are some points from Galbraith's (yes, Kenneth's son) book. I'll give indication of my opinions on his ideas as well.

I have a full review on my blog (do a Google Blog Search for Predator State).

Galbraith says that liberals who are for the following things should reverse their thinking: balanced budgets, free trade, open markets / monetary policy, tax cuts and the importance of savings. (Hey, that's me!!)

He attacks each idea with an obvious depth of economic prowess and an even more obvious bias towards true-blue liberal thinking.

His argument against balanced federal government budgets is perhaps his most compelling. He provides a simple equation that shows that the U.S. federal government (unlike all other countries) is positively incapable of balancing its budget and should not even try. To do so results in pain for consumers and business in the U.S. Galbraith actually won me over on this point.

The equation is that the U.S. must run a budget deficit each and every year or else private industry and consumer will have to run deficits themselves. The deficits we run collectively (government plus industry plus consumer) MUST equal our countries total trade deficit. And the U.S.... will always have a trade deficit as long as the U.S. Dollar is the currency of choice for emerging market countries to hold as their reserve currency (which is it).

On free trade, Galbraith isn't exactly against free trade itself, but against the unfettered access we seem to have as a goal where environmental and labor regulations aren't part of our agreements. He seems to have a fairly typical liberal view on this point, and I agree as well. He aggressively debunks the notion that the free trade agreements are even remotely linked to job loss in the U.S. Instead, he blames deregulation and union-busting for the job losses.

Galbraith deftly points out the failures of the "open market" and, in many ways, foreshadows what happened in the weeks and months after his book was published in August 2008. He was right on almost every account on this point. Just this past week we saw Alan Greenspan admitting to the "flaw" in his own thinking about markets and monetary policy. Galbraith must have had a giggle about that. He points out that the countries where open markets were most vigorously applied were dramatic failures (Argentina, Brazil, Chile). He says that Milton Friedman's motto of "freedom to choose" is actually just "freedom to shop." He shows how the big industrial companies lost their brain trusts in finance and technology to Wall Street and Silicon Valley respectively, and he details the damage this has caused. He shows how extravagant CEO pay has been a destructive force in the economy.

He says that government "planning" is needed because "markets cannot think ahead." I like this point very much.

Galbraith saw the George W. Bush tax cuts as irresponsible and, in general, the trickle-down economics as a joke. I think most people would agree these days, including me. On financial inequality in general, he says that we must use government controls to close the gap between the rich and the poor, and if we do so, we will experience a better and better economy. He uses Denmark as an example of high equality and low unemployment.

With the importance of savings, I think Galbraith is of two minds. It seems that he is opposed to supply-side economics, which emphasizes the importance of savings, but he also, later in the book, says that he is in favor of the government having some control or influence over how/when people save money, so I ended up a little confused on this point. I, personally, am a crazy saver and I think Americans need to have more of a saving/investment mindset than we currently do.

I learned a lot. Perhaps only a handful of books I've read in my life have forced a bigger shift in my thinking than this book. I cannot say that I am a far-left liberal like Galbraith himself, even after reading this book. However, I can say that I've shifted left-ward knowing what I know now, and I'm sure my opinions have also been drastically impacted by the lurchings of the American economy this fall of 2008. Read more ›