The title of the book refers to a period that Appelbaum defines as being between 1969 and 2008. For him, this was a time when the policies that economists almost universally endorsed—tax breaks, austerity, deregulation, free trade, monetarism, floating exchange rates, reduced antitrust enforcement, low inflation, among others—were enacted.
It is a period when market fundamentalism triumphed. Appelbaum tells the story of each of these economic ideas in turn, often starting in the 1940s or 1950s and tracing its creation and enactment to the present day. This structure causes the book to feel like a recurring nightmare that differs only slightly upon each retelling.
First, everything is fine in the sunny fields of the booming post-war era and then somehow you’re back in today’s fetid austerity swamps.
Article submitted by, Great Gazoo.