ABSTRACT
All of this brings us breathlessly to the third part of the twentieth century, with 1968 as a sharp dividing point between it and the world we knew in the previous thirty-five years. A mere listing of a few of the ways in which the systems and ideas prevailing in that 1933–68 period have been changed in the 1968–2000 end-of-the-century era is enough to suggest the ideas that need to be incorporated into the chapters that follow.
Keynesian economics and the Employment Act of 1946 replaced by neoconservative and supply side concepts.
Institutionalization of the military-industrial complex.
Disestablishment of or reduction in many federal housing and home mortgage programs for low-and moderate-income families.
The later deregulation of the banking and home finance industries, which led to unwarranted developments and the eventual meltdown of the savings and loan industry (which ultimately cost the federal government $600 billion); the story of this imbroglio is recounted in the appendix.
Avoidance or repeal of environmental and conservation laws affecting urban regions and reflected in the rightist “sagebrush rebellion” and “wise use” movements that challenge public land policies and regulation (discussed later in this chapter).
Various forms of tax revolt at the level of the states, beginning with California’s Proposition 13, leading to widespread fiscal crises at century’s end.
The suburbanization and virtual dissolution of political parties, leading to lack of political leadership, almost entropy, in both national and state legislatures, a process that reinforces the impact of campaign finance on our democracy.
Globalization of business, with the assistance of U.S. and international agencies, resulting in overseas production but abandoned factories and lower incomes for families in America.
Foreign policies that support corporate power in our society.
Consolidation of communication and publishing facilities in the age of computers and the Internet.
A trend away from governmental programs that protect the poor and disabled in our society and that enhance our civil liberties.
