Presswatch on 01/27/11

evergreen_web_banner.png

KBOO is open to the public! To visit the station, contact your staff person or call 503-231-8032.


Produced by: 
KBOO
Program:: 
Air date: 
Thu, 01/27/2011 - 9:00am to 9:30am
"Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer

Host Theresa Mitchell speaks with Paul Pierson, co-author with Jacob Hacker of "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class." 

In "Winner-Take-All-Politics Pierson and Hacker demonstrate that runaway inequality and the present economic crisis reflect what government has done to aid the rich and what it has not done to safeguard the interests of the middle class. The winner-take-all economy is primarily a result of winner-take-all politics. They trace the rise of the winner-take-all economy back to the late 1970s when, under a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, a major transformation of American politics occurred. With big business and conservative ideologues organizing themselves to undo the regulations and progressive tax policies that had helped ensure a fair distribution of economic rewards, deregulation got under way, taxes were cut for the wealthiest, and business decisively defeated labor in Washington. And this transformation continued under Reagan and the Bushes as well as under Clinton, with both parties catering to the interests of those at the very top. Hacker and Pierson's gripping narration of the epic battles waged during President Obama's first two years in office reveals an unpleasant but catalyzing truth: winner-take-all politics, while under challenge, is still very much with us.

 

 

 

Audio by Topic: