Here is another book by Thomas Frank that explores the crazy political and economic situation we are in now. Frank deftly explains how after the 2008 economic crash many people expected a return to Keynesian economics. You know John Maynard Keynes, he basically said that in order to have a strong economy the common folk have to remain employed in order to in turn have the money to spend to pump up the economy and create economic growth. This has to be done at all costs, even if the federal government has to be the employer of last resort, creating jobs where the private sector just won't. Of course the government would have to tax the wealthy to pay for all this, and this has now become a taboo topic.
What happened after 2008 was pretty much the opposite the bailout was a supply side solution basically giving money to banks and other financial institutions that were too big to fail. This of course never trickled down to the common folk an we still have high unemployment today.
Frank illustrates how adamantly the right-wing yahoos and the wealthy wan to keep the United States on the same course of tax cuts for the wealthy, a government that is shrunk down into an ineffectual peanut, and big business given a wide berth to do what every the hell it wants.
Recently the Huffington Post had a blended picture of George W. Bush and President Obama calling him George W. Obama to illustrate how the Obama administration is pretty much just a continuation of the Bush administration. Obama certainly wasn't the agent of change he promised to be. So are Titanic of an economy is not getting turned around we are just headed for the same iceberg over and over again.
I wish more people would read Frank's book. You can buy a copy from Amazon.com here:
Pity the Billionaire by Thomas Frank.
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