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CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker has just released a new book, <i>The
Conservative Nanny State</i> that shows how people in power use a variety
of policies - including the IMF, overseas - to stay rich and get richer.
<br><br>
The book examines, among other things, how creditors use the IMF to
protect them when their investments “turn out poorly.” (see Chapter 5)
Creditors do this by using the IMF as a debt collector, which negotiates
on their behalf. Even though creditors and investors are often aware of
the risks in the countries where they put their money, the IMF has often
aided them in recouping their losses when economies have experienced
downturns.<br>
<br>
<i>The Conservative Nanny State</i> also looks at how U.S. trade and
immigration policy places less-skilled workers in direct competition with
workers in developing countries, while protecting highly paid
professionals from the same sort of competition (Chapter 1), and how the
use of patents and copyrights government enforced monopolies lead to
large economic distortions, and incidentally also allow some people to
get very rich (Chapter 4).<br><br>
True to the book's ideas of challenging copyright monopolies, <i>The
Conservative Nanny State</i> is available as a free e-book at
<a href="http://www.conservativenannystate.org/">http://www.conservativenannystate.org/<br><br>
</a>*************************************<br><br>
From Dean's blog,
<a href="http://beatthepress.blogspot.com/">http://beatthepress.blogspot.com/<br><br>
</a><br>
<h3><b>The Conservative Nanny State is Here! </b></h3>The moment you have
all been waiting for has finally arrived. You can download your copy of
<i>The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to
Stay Rich and Get Richer</i> today. The book is
<a href="http://www.conservativenannystate.org/">available</a> as a free
e-book (read chapter 4 for the reasoning). You will soon be able to order
paperback copies at
<a href="http://www.conservativenannystate.org">Conservativenannystate.org</a>.<br><br>
The book takes issue with the prevailing political metaphor in U.S.
politics: that liberals want the government to intervene to promote
fairness and equity, while conservatives want to leave outcomes to the
market. The book argues that conservatives (or at least those in power)
support a wide range of government interventions that have the effect of
distributing income upward. This list includes a trade and immigration
policy that places less-skilled workers in direct competition with
workers in developing countries, while protecting highly paid
professionals from the same sort of competition. Another item on the list
is Federal Reserve Board policies that deliberately weaken the bargaining
power of less-skilled workers in order to keep inflation under
control.<br><br>
A third set of policies involves the use of patents and copyrights
government enforced monopolies that lead to large economic distortions,
and incidentally also allow some people to get very rich. Even
corporations themselves owe their existence to the government there are
only individuals out there in strict free market land.<br><br>
The book is intended to force a rethinking of the relationship between
the government and the economy. The current framing -- that liberals like
government and conservatives like the market -- works well for those who
support the economic policies of the last quarter century. Those who
think that we can do better need a new framework.<br><br>
<br><br>
Dan Beeton<br>
Center for Economic and Policy Research<br>
1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400 <br>
Washington, DC 20009 <br>
Phone: 202 293 5380 x104<br>
Fax: 202 588 1356 <br>
E-mail: beeton@cepr.net /
<a href="http://www.cepr.net/">www.cepr.net</a><br>
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