The full title is "Pity the Billionaire: The Hard Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right."
Frank was the author of the 2004 book, "Whatever Happened to Kansas," (which I read last year). That particular book looked at how the RW managed to align itself with the working class, getting elected primarily on social issues, and then pushing an economic agenda that actually hurt the very people who put them in office.
In many ways, this book is an extension of his earlier book, except that it chronicles how the RW managed, against all odds (and common sense, I must say), to corner the working class outrage at the economic collapse of 2008.
Unlike the aftermath of the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression when Democrats established a solid coalition of voters who kept the Democrats in power for decades, the new Right has managed to capture the hearts (but some would say, certainly not the minds) of average Americans who are angry at the state of the nation and our economic fall from the grace of good times.
But do they blame the corporations and high flyers who gamed the system and almost took it down in the process? Not really. At least not as much as you would think they would. They blame gov't, and regulation(s), and, of course, liberals.
It's an interesting (and funny) read. But it's also a head-scratcher because it's just so difficult to understand how so many people can be so mistaken about who the real villains were. I mean, after Wall St ran wild and unchecked for years, you would think that most average conservatives would rethink their love for deregulation and/or a lack of regulation, especially since the consequences of that philosophical approach to governance has been such a bust (no pun intended). Apparently not. It seems that the resurgent Right is now in love, more than ever, with capitalism in its purist unregulated form. Yup, their solution seems to be that gov't should get out of the way because gov't, in their view, is the problem. But isn't that exactly what the lobbyists paid the gov't to do in the deregulation frenzy of the last couple of decades? Gov't got out of the way (for campaign contributions, of course), and look what happened!
There is also a beautiful deconstruction of Ayn Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged," that is worth experiencing.
And, of course, the conservative media and erstwhile RW tea party groups get a closer examination since their ascendency has become a cash cow for just about anyone starting a so-called grass roots group or PAC.
Frank employs his usual acerbic dry wit in the process.
Published Jan 2012. 192 pages.
Frank was the author of the 2004 book, "Whatever Happened to Kansas," (which I read last year). That particular book looked at how the RW managed to align itself with the working class, getting elected primarily on social issues, and then pushing an economic agenda that actually hurt the very people who put them in office.
In many ways, this book is an extension of his earlier book, except that it chronicles how the RW managed, against all odds (and common sense, I must say), to corner the working class outrage at the economic collapse of 2008.
Unlike the aftermath of the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression when Democrats established a solid coalition of voters who kept the Democrats in power for decades, the new Right has managed to capture the hearts (but some would say, certainly not the minds) of average Americans who are angry at the state of the nation and our economic fall from the grace of good times.
But do they blame the corporations and high flyers who gamed the system and almost took it down in the process? Not really. At least not as much as you would think they would. They blame gov't, and regulation(s), and, of course, liberals.
It's an interesting (and funny) read. But it's also a head-scratcher because it's just so difficult to understand how so many people can be so mistaken about who the real villains were. I mean, after Wall St ran wild and unchecked for years, you would think that most average conservatives would rethink their love for deregulation and/or a lack of regulation, especially since the consequences of that philosophical approach to governance has been such a bust (no pun intended). Apparently not. It seems that the resurgent Right is now in love, more than ever, with capitalism in its purist unregulated form. Yup, their solution seems to be that gov't should get out of the way because gov't, in their view, is the problem. But isn't that exactly what the lobbyists paid the gov't to do in the deregulation frenzy of the last couple of decades? Gov't got out of the way (for campaign contributions, of course), and look what happened!
There is also a beautiful deconstruction of Ayn Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged," that is worth experiencing.
And, of course, the conservative media and erstwhile RW tea party groups get a closer examination since their ascendency has become a cash cow for just about anyone starting a so-called grass roots group or PAC.
Frank employs his usual acerbic dry wit in the process.
Published Jan 2012. 192 pages.
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