Why, in an era of downsized corporation, stagnant wages, and decreasing job security, do Americans continue to embrace free market capitalism? Professor Joel Blau attempts to explain the paradoxical relationship between America's love of unrestrained capitalism and the real effects it has on the daily lives of American workers. Professor Blau argues that a more proactive government -- one that cares for its citizens with social programmes and safety nets -- is needed to compensate for the economic instability bred by unchecked capitalist expansion.
Faith in the free market has become a basic tenet of public policy debate. But as Joel Blau demonstrates in this eye-opening book, so-called "free market" programmes have been a dismal failure, heightening inequality, lowering the median standard of living, and steadily eroding the quality of our social and political life.
