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The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Frank
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 346
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0805079882
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.92
EAN: 9780805079883
ASIN: 0805079882
Publication Date: August 5, 2008
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Condition: BRAND NEW HARDCOVER WITH DUST JACKET! (NOT a book club edition) No remainder marks, writing, bends, folds, rips, creases, etc. Usually ships next day
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Product Description
From the author of the landmark bestseller What’s the Matter with Kansas?, a jaw-dropping investigation of the decades of deliberate—and lucrative—conservative misrule In his previous book, Thomas Frank explained why working America votes for politicians who reserve their favors for the rich. Now, in The Wrecking Crew, Frank examines the blundering and corrupt Washington those politicians have given us. Casting back to the early days of the conservative revolution, Frank describes the rise of a ruling coalition dedicated to dismantling government. But rather than cutting down the big government they claim to hate, conservatives have simply sold it off, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war. Washington itself has been remade into a golden landscape of super-wealthy suburbs and gleaming lobbyist headquarters—the wages of government-by-entrepreneurship practiced so outrageously by figures such as Jack Abramoff. It is no coincidence, Frank argues, that the same politicians who guffaw at the idea of effective government have installed a regime in which incompetence is the rule. Nor will the country easily shake off the consequences of deliberate misgovernment through the usual election remedies. Obsessed with achieving a lasting victory, conservatives have taken pains to enshrine the free market as the permanent creed of state. Stamped with Thomas Frank’s audacity, analytic brilliance, and wit, The Wrecking Crew is his most revelatory work yet—and his most important.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
Misgovernment By Design September 4, 2008
In his famous book What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, Thomas Frank made the argument many liberals were reluctant to make. He argued that citizens of red states were being duped by the right into voting against their economic interests. Frank received not only the usual charges from the right of being an elitist, but also criticism from the left such as Larry Bartels in Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Russell Sage Foundation Co-Pub). Bartels showed that rich rather than the poor were more likely to vote on cultural issues and that the poor voted not only Democratic but more on economic issues.
In this new book, Frank takes his battle with conservatives to the Beltway. He examines what government becomes when it is run by those who think government is the problem. The fact that there have been so many corruption cases - Delay, Abramoff, etc. - during the Republican years was no accident, rather it is a direct result of the conservative attitude towards public service. Conservatives, in Frank's view, see the liberal state as obstructive and public service as a joke. It was their goal to downsize and outsource public agencies to the point were they became ineffective and incompetent, thereby validating the conservative philosophy of government. FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina under the leadership of Bush's political crony, "Brownie," was a classic example.
The generation of conservative idealists that came to Washington during the Reagan administration, Frank concedes, came with goods intention. They came to reform a system that was by the late 1970's dysfunctional. But after they achieved power they proceeded, not to reform, but to neuter government agencies. They did this by opening the door to the so-called market forces. Government was now for sale to the highest bidder, and corporations and their ubiquitous lobbyists became the key movers and shakers. Robert Reich in Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life (Vintage) estimated that there are now around 37,000 registered lobbyists in Washington engaged in an "arms race of spending". This lavish spending by corporations to influence policy has transformed not only the politics but also the economy of the Beltway. It is no surprise that Loudoun County, a suburb of DC, is now the richest county in America. The second richest is Fairfax, right next to Loudoun. The third, sixth, and seventh richest are also in the greater DC area. The wages of lobbying have been good and show no sign of decline. It is the preferred career path of retired politicians.
The shortcomings of this book should be obvious: it is a liberal diatribe in which the liberals can do no wrong and the conservatives no right. But as far as these kinds of diatribes go, Thomas Frank's is of the highest caliber.
 Outstanding and Very Timely! August 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The Wrecking Crew" starts out slowly and then builds to a steady revelation of conservative secrets and travesties. It is a "Must Read" for all those interested in good government.
Conservatives see government as meddling in the market - a force of godlike omniscience; their aim is to ensure government impotence. Liberals, on the other hand, see markets as unstable and needing control by organized intelligence.
Conservatism's recent triumphs began with the discovery of the enormous profits possible from business support for conservative activism, especially direct mail. Unfortunately, accuracy was not an issue. A second major benefit came from Howard Phillips "defund the left" doctrine, augmented by "fund the right" - faith-based organizations, private contractors with the right politics and the clients of favored lobbyists.
The tendency of government workers to join unions makes them even more detestable to conservatives. Now far more people work under contracts than are directly employed by the federal government. A favorite conservative tactic has been to shut down offices that supervise outsourced operations, or even outsourcing the activity.
Running on a platform that government is "part of the problem" does not attract good people, thus generating a self-fulfilling prophesy. This is reinforced by holding down salaries. Alternatively, private government contractors return the favor by political donations, while no-bid contracts negate the principal of competition leading to improved performance.
The "revolving door" from government worker to industry is another major problem. Republicans in 1995 discontinued record-keeping on the topic. However, one study found that 43% of Congresspeople leaving office since 1998 have become lobbyists, up from 9% in the 1970s.
Putting those opposed to a unit's mission in charge of it helps negate the intended value, without creating the clamor that abolishment would; it also makes it more more difficult for supporters to reassign its role. Ensuing actions include stripping agency worker supporters of authority, spying on them to find reason for firing, alleging "fat" in the unit, delegating enforcement to those being regulated, and reducing enforcement staff.
Lobbying, think-tank subsidies, slanted pundits and journalists have been enriched by the conservative wave. In 2004 a group of the nation's largest corporations paid a K Street firm $1.6 million for tiny modification of the tax code. The result was they saved $100 billion - about a 6 million percent ROI.
Corruption is a subject conservatives think they understand well - they simply locate it somewhere in the liberal state, in areas such as mass transit, FTC and FDA supervision, etc.
Grover Norquist, a conservative leader, asserts that wasteful earmarks are useful because they help destroy faith in government, and consequently its support. Thus, government failures (eg. Katrina) fuel conservatives, even when caused by conservative bungling. Norquist also supports undermining trial lawyers (traditional Democrat supporters) via tort reform, crushing unions with a paycheck protection measure, expanding NAFTA to force Teamsters to compete with Mexican drivers, vouchers to weaken the NEA, and privatizing Social Security.
Privatizing Social Security would also help defund government operations, propel the federal deficit into the stratosphere, and create massive Wall St. profits. In addition, this would provide strength to undermine minimum wage laws, safer food, etc. as these expenses would be seen as undermining the health of retirees' portfolios.
Increasing the federal deficit furthers spending cuts and greater privatization; this outcome is sold through the false promises of supply-side economics, and further increases cynicism vs. government.
Finally, we also learn that growing income inequality undermines democracy and the ability to reform these Republican actions.
3.5 stars-Correct title is " How Libertarians Misrule " August 26, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Frank shows that the last 30 years of economic and banking public policy in the USA has resulted in a disasterous wave of privatization and deregulation that has resulted in the USA reverting to the type of boom-bust speculator economy dominant in the 1880's-early 1890's and 1920's. President Carter started the dismantling of the regulatory apparatus set up in the mid 1930's to contain and prevent the speculator type of economy that had resulted from the deregulation and privatization carried out during the Harding-Coolidge administration during the 1920's.The result was the creation in the mid 1920's of housing and stock market bubbles financed by new balloon payment loans(read subprime and Alt-A loans) and margin account financing.The result was the perfectly predictable and inevitable banker financed bubble- mania-panic-crash-recession or depression pattern that has been repeating for about 450 years throughout the world
However,Frank has incorrectly identified the political affiliation of the individuals who view government as the problem .It is not conservatives who seek to do away or eliminate or have a g-string sized government.It is the libertarians ,masquarding as conservatives,who are responsible for the current near collapse of the financial and banking system in the USA.These libertarians identify themselves,not as libertatians,but as " supply side " or " public choice " or " University of Chicago " economists.None of these anti-government groups are conservative in the sense of Adam Smith,Edmund Burke, George Washington,Alexander Hamilton,Franklin,Madison,Jay,the Adams brothers,Monroe,Lincoln,Theodore Roosevelt,Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D Eisenhower, Nixon, and Ford.These anti -government groups hark back to the empty rhetoric of Paine ,Henry ,Mason,Randolph,Shay's Rebellion of 1786-87,the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-1794,and the Confederacy of 1861-65.
Practically all of the founding fathers were Federalists.They believed in a strong central government,a strong and independent(from both government and the private banking industry)central bank,as well as the use of large revenue tariffs and retaliatory tariffs ,as advised by A Smith in 1776 in his the Wealth of Nations on pp.434-439(Modern Library(Cannan)edition.
I have deducted one and a half stars due to Frank's failure to devote some part of his book to discussing what the historical connotation of the word " conservative " means.Conservatives are not anti government;libertarians are.Jack Abramoff is most likely a libertarian.He is certainly not a conservative
 Another liberal emoting about freedom and capitalism August 25, 2008
6 out of 26 found this review helpful
A very silly and transparent attempt to smear Republicans in a completely non-intellectual way. He actually says things like, "the free market is not wonderful ,...in my opinion". As a liberal it does not even occur to him to explain why Communist China and the USSR have switched to the free market or why most recent Nobel Prize winners prefer the free market. He delights in the Bush scandals and explains them in great detail but merely assumes they are the result of Republican philosophy.
When asked about the scandals of Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, John Edwards and William Jefferson he is absolutely silent. When asked about all the big city Democratic machines the have long been plagued by corruption, he acknowledges that it occurs but insists, for no reason whatsoever, that it is different from the Bush Scandals. When asked about the best period of Democratic dominance he sites the 1930's seemingly not aware of FDR's 10 year long Great Depression, which featured 20% unemployment rates and led to WW 2. When asked what he is for, if not Republican freedom , he says, "democracy". Then he explains that some people now earn so much money while others are struggling. You assume he wants to take the money from the rich and give it to the less rich and poor, but he does even suggest how to do socialism without getting the socialist results that the USSR and Communist China are trying so hard and so successfully to avoid. Of course there is the obligatory sadness about the undemocratic decline of organized labor but he does not suggest how Ford and GM could avoid bankruptcy and compete on the world stage while paying higher union wages. He insists that Bush's outsourcing and privatizing is a dastardly deed and perhaps the symbol of Republicanism, but does not even allude to why a bureaucratic government monopoly, of all things on earth, would be more efficient or less corrupt. In the end, there is not one word in this book that would make a Republican think. If someone wanted to learn to think about political philosophy he would be very familiar with "Free to Choose," "Freedom and Capitalism", and "Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal." Democrats must try to grasp and respond to the arguments in these books, not completely ignore them out of an amazing and perhaps justified fear, if they want to make a contribution to our democracy.
A Smart Defense of Liberalism August 25, 2008
3 out of 15 found this review helpful
What I like about this book and its author is that he can state a case for liberalism and government that creates a framework for intelligent discussion as to the clash between the free markets and central government. In the extreme, this is the division between Capitalism and Communism.
The book makes the case that Conservatives have conspired to destroy the government and the confidence the public has in it by beating it over the head with a set of specious and unsupported claims about market functions.
I am the kind of economist that the author would be afraid of. I admit that I do not believe that Conservatives "use" the market. I believe, on the contrary, that it is the markets that actually use conservative politicians.
I would go even further to say that what the author fails to recognize is that the markets are far more democratized than he believes. He has the very weak opinion that the markets are nothing but a "shield for the oligarchy of the rich." However, what he does not see is that the same middle class he bemoans are the same people with retirement funds and 401ks that spread the ownership of capital around to a degree that Marx and Lenin never imagined when they were opposing the czars and the kings of Europe.
The thesis of this book is greatly diminished when one sees clearly how the American consumer takes political action by complex consumption decisions. The same is true when one sees clearly that, despite a few easy to observe examples, it is not the situation in the world today that there is a "wealthy oligarchy."
Sure there are very rich people. But their wealth depends on the economic performance of the businesses they once created and in which they now own significant shares in, but no controlling interest. Those organizations are in fact "owned and managed" predominately by a wide array of small share owners who make up giant ownership positions that breathe life into and control the policy of those same companies. These companies are managed by professional managers, apart from the owners. The large block owners benefit from the combined efforts of management and the free flow of capital which oversees or "controls" the efficient allocation of the organization's resources by market-based investment decisions.
What is missing in the view of this book is a complete understanding of how wealth is created by capital markets in the modern world and how the consumer makes democratic economic/political decisions on a daily and continuous basis by simple choices such as whether (for example) to buy Dove soap or Ivory soap, etc.
What is most wrong with the left today is that they, (in the immortal words of their latest icon Barack Obama), "cling" to the historically discredited, and now just plain "stupid," Marxist/Communist idea that Capitalism cannot find a way to democracy.
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