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Dean Baker is an economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington DC. He has authored or coauthored several books, including Social Security: The Phony Crisis with Mark Weisbrot, The Benefits of Full Employment with Jared Bernstein, and The History of the United States. He also authors the blog Beat The Press: Dean Baker's Commentary on Economic Reporting.
Today we'll talk to Dean about his most recent book: The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer. The book can be obtained free from the web site. Here's is one of the blurbs:
Dean Baker is one of the most insightful and original economists in Washington. With this book, he exposes the prevailing myth of modern conservatives. They are not for limited government, as they claim. Rather, they are for a government that helps their own. Baker says it is time to balance the books. Government is by all the people, for all the people. It's that simple.
--- Jeff Madrick, author of Why Economies Grow: The Forces That Shape Prosperity and How We Can Get Them Working Again
The book is a rich source of topics for discussion for our show. Here's the table of contents:
Introduction
- Doctors and Dishwashers: How the Nanny State Creates Good Jobs for Those at the Top
- The Workers are Gettting Uppity: Call In the Fed!
- The Secret of High CEO Pay and Other Mysteries of the Corporation
- Bill Gates -- Welfare Mom: How Government Patent and Copyright Monopolies Enrich the Rich and Distort the Economy
- Mommy, Joey Owes Me Money: How Bankruptcy Laws Are Bailing Out the Rich
- The Rigged Legal Deck: Torts and Takings (The Nanny State Only Gives)
- Small Business Babies
- Taxes: It's Not Your Money
- Don't Make Big Business Compete Against Government Bureaucrats
Conclusions
Truth Out
Common Dreams
Information Clearinghouse
Cursor
Tom Paine
The Independent
The Guardian
Consortium News