The Conservative Nanny State... How the wealthy use the government to stay rich and get richer

t r u t h o u t


Washington, DC: In his new book, "The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer," well-known economist Dean Baker debunks the myth that conservatives favor the market over government intervention. The book examines a variety of "nanny state" policies that make the rich richer while leaving most Americans worse off. Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, candidly rejects current political truisms, proposes alternatives, and encourages readers to openly debate the way forward.

To download a free electronic copy of book, visit: www.conservativenannystate.org .

By distributing the book online at no cost, Baker hopes to spark public debate about the most effective mechanism for supporting the writing and designing of books and other forms of intellectual work. Paperback copies are available for a fee that covers printing and shipping costs.

Book Excerpt

"The key flaw in the stance that most progressives have taken on economic issues is that they have accepted a framing whereby conservatives are assumed to support market outcomes, while progressives want to rely on the government. This framing leads progressives to futilely lash out against markets, rather than examining the factors that lead to undesirable market outcomes. The market is just a tool, and in fact a very useful one. It makes no more sense to lash out against markets than to lash out against the wheel." (Excerpted from Preface)

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The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer
Published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, DC.
Creative Commons (cc) 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4116-9395-1

Dean Baker is a macroeconomist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He is co-author of Social Security: The Phony Crisis (with Mark Weisbrot, University of Chicago Press, 1999), co-author of The Benefits of Full Employment (with Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute, 2004), and author of The History of the United States Since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2006). He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. His blog, Beat the Press, provides commentary on economic reporting < http://beatthepress.blogspot.com >..............