Affluent Society, The, xiix
Age of Affluence, The, x
Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), 83
airline industry, 45
American Capitalism, xiv
American Economics Association, ix–x
American Liberty League, 125
automobile industry, 29
bank bailouts, 48
bankruptcies, corporate, 44–45
Becker, Gary, xii
Berle, Adolf, 4
Bernanke, Ben, xii
Bloomingdale’s, 44
Boesky, Ivan, 80
borrowing: business, 72, 138; consumer, 70, 72, 138
British Labour Party, 118
bureaucratic syndrome, 51–52; corporations immune from adverse implications of, 58–60; private sector as escape from, 56–58; pursuit of contentment and, 52, 54–56, 60; role of thought diminished in, 53–54; sense of common purpose and, 52–53
Burns, Arthur, xvi
Bush, George H. W., xi, xv, 15, 18, 21, 140; Gulf War, 1991, 109; military exercises under, 108; position on tax increases, 37, 39; preference for foreign policy, 88; on the United States as a classless society, 24
Cambodia, 109
Campeau, Robert, 44
Canada, 118
capitalism, 8, 136; functional underclass in, 28, 29–31; intrinsic tendency to instability, 65–67; natural law and, 61–62; self-destructive nature of, 41–42, 47; service of economics to, 62–63
Carey, Henry, 62
Citibank, 59
class of the contented, xv
Clausewitz, Carl von, 131
Clinton, Bill, xi, xx, xxi, xxii
Cold War, the, xv, 130–31, 141
Communism, 7, 8, 19–20, 38, 52, 136; collapse in Eastern Europe, 110, 130–31, 141; fear of, 96–98, 103, 107, 130–31
consumers, 103–4; borrowing by, 70, 72, 138; purchasing power of, 105
Contented Majority/Contented Electoral Majority: attitude toward time, 16–18; general condemnation of government, 20–21; highly selective view of role of the state, 18–20; political leaders, 15, 18, 21, 22–23; Republic Party as representative of, 112; self-regard of, 14, 15–16; those in, 12–15; tolerance for great differences in income, 21–22
corporations: Adam Smith on, 77; financial devastation and, 42–45; immunity to adverse implications of bureaucracy, 58–60
costs, direct restraint on, 68–69
Council on Foreign Relations, 89
Cranston, Alan, 106
Cromwell, Oliver, 3
culture of contentment: basic requirements for serving, 75; bureaucratic syndrome and, 52, 54–56, 60; compelling role of taxation in, 33–34; contented majority in, 12–15; defending the general limitation on government and, 75; ended by a severed recession or depression, 124; eventual economic discomfort with policies of, 122–24; foreign policy and, 94; inconvenience of personal service in the military for those in, 99–102; inflation as threat to, 125–26; intrinsic tendency of capitalism to instability as threat to, 65–67; military threat to, 129–31; monetarism in, 70; policy changes needed for, 137–39; Republic Party as representative of, 112; self-corrective capacity of democracy and, 120–22; supply-side economics in, 83–84
Currie, Lauchlin, 4
Darwin, Charles, 63
democracy, self-corrective capacity of, 120–22
Democratic Party, 113–14; political strategies, 115–16
deregulation: airline industry, 45; banking, 49–50
direct restraint on costs, 68–69
Dukakis, Michael, 116
economic accommodation, 61–64, 122–24; Adam Smith and, 76–78; broad commitment to laissez faire as, 64–65; direct restraint on costs, 68–69; fiscal policy, 67–68; intrinsic tendency of capitalism to instability and, 65–67; justifying a reduced sense of public responsibility for the poor, 75–76; monetary policy, 69–72, 74–75; scrapping of the welfare state, 82–83; social justification for untrammeled, uninhibited pursuit and possession of wealth, 75, 78–80; supply-side economics in, 83–84; tax reductions and, 80–82
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 121
Enron, xvi
Federal Reserve System, 34, 70, 71, 123
Federated Department Stores, 44
financial devastation, 40–42; large corporations and, 42–45; legislative or executive action to limit, 46; mergers and acquisitions in, 46–48; savings and loan scandal, 19, 48–50
Forbes Four Hundred, 80
Ford, Gerald, 121
foreign policy: culture of contentment and, 94, 121; emphasizing economic and military strength of the United States, 91–94; favored role in polity, 88; features of, 85–88; patriotism and, 90–91; politics of contentment and, 116; recreational character of, 87–88, 89–91; rewards to practitioners of, 86–87; surface level benefits, 88–91
Friedman, Milton, xiii, xiix, 69
functional underclass, 24–25; immigrants in, 28–29; required in capitalism, 28, 29–31; resentment and social unrest among those in, 31–32; resolution in Western Europe, 27–28; revolt by, 132–34; in the United States until World War I, 28–29; work and, 25–27
General Electric, 59
General Motors, 59
government: Adam Smith on, 76–78; bureaucratic syndrome in, 55; defending the general limitation on, 75; deficits, 68, 123–24; education and, 35, 140; expenditures on the military, 19–20, 98–99; faith in, 64; financial support for well-being, 11–13; food stamps and child support, 35; general condemnation of, 20–21; selective view of role of, 18–20; subsidized housing, 35, 83; wage and price controls, 68–69; welfare programs, 35, 83
Great Depression, the, xix, xxii, 1, 3–4, 70, 124; intrinsic tendency of capitalism to instability and, 65–67; mood of contentment ended by, 121
Great Recession of 2009, x, xiii–xiv, xxii–xxiii
Henderson, Leon, 4
Hoover, Herbert, 121 Hoover, J. Edgar, 97
hospitals, 36
Hussein, Saddam, 129, 131, 141
incomes: CEO, 43–44; inflation effects and, 125–26; military recruits and, 100–101; statistics, 11; tolerance for great differences in, 21–22; of the upper 20 percent, 82
inflation, x–xi, xii, 33–34, 123; causes of, 66; direct restraint on costs to counter, 68–69; interest rates and, 72, 126; monetary policy and, 70, 71; reduction in spending to counter, 68; as threat to contentment, 125–26
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, An, 76
instability, tendency of capitalism to, 65–67
interest rates: consumer borrowing and, 70, 72, 138; income rewards of high, 71–72; inflation controlled with, 123, 126
International Monetary Fund, 91
Johnson, Lyndon, 121
Keating, Charles, 59
Kemmerer, Edwin W., 4
Keynes, John Maynard, ix, xvii, 33, 64, 68, 137
Kissinger, Henry, 121
laissez faire, 16, 48–49, 137; modern commitment to, 19, 40–41, 64
Lenin, Vladimir, 7
lessons of history, 1–8; writing advice and guidance based on, 8–10
Libya, 108
Louis XV, 2
Louis XVI, 2
Malthus, Thomas Robert, 2, 61–62, 75
Marie Antoinette, 2
Means, Gardiner C., 4
media, mass, 114
Medicaid, 83
mergers and acquisitions, 46–48, 139–40
military, the, 103–5; bureaucratic syndrome in, 55–56; and civilian roles in defense establishment, 105–7; expenditures on, 19–20, 98–99; fear of Communism and, 96–98; foreign policy and power of the United States, 91–94; Gulf War, 1991, and, 108–10; inconvenience of personal service in, 99–102; need for an enemy, 107–9; Reagan’s support for, 95–96; Republic Party on, 112–13; threat to culture of contentment, 129–31
modern industrial economy strength since World War II, 135–36
monetary policy, 69–72; scholarly standing of, 74
monopolists, 59
Murray, Alan, xxii
Myrdal, Gunnar, xvii
natural selection, 63
New Deal, ix, xix, 3–5, 63, 121, 125
New Industrial State, The, xvi
Nixon, Richard, xvi, 121; wage and price controls under, 68–69
occupations, social views of, 25–26
oligopolists, 59
Persian Gulf war, 1991, 94
politics of contentment: Democratic Party and, 113–14, 115–16; extended to other industrial countries, 118–19; international relations and, 116; media effect on, 114; money effects on, 114–15; Republic Party and, 112–13; the socially excluded and, 117–18; in state and local elections, 116–17; voting and, 117
poor, the, xxi–xxii, xxiii; justifying a reduced sense of public responsibility for, 75–76; publicly subsidized shelter and, 35; socialism and, 6–7; state interventions for, 126–27; statistics on, 11. See also functional underclass
public health services, 36
public hospitals, 36
public libraries, 35
public services and taxation, 35–36
Qaddafi, Muammar, 108
Reagan, Ronald, xi, xv–xvi, xiix, xxi, 15, 18; Adam Smith influence on, 76–77; Americans approval of, 22–23; military exercises under, 108; public deficits under, 68; support for the military, 95–96, 98; tax cuts by, 21–22, 37, 39, 84; trickle-down theory and, 84
real estate speculation, 46–48, 122–23
recession, 66–67, 124, 126, 127, 134
regressive taxes, 79
RJR Nabisco, 44
Robbins, Lionel, 4
Roman Empire, 2
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 3, 5, 89, 121, 124–25
Sanders, Bernie, xxiii
savings and loan scandal, 19, 48–50, 59
Schumpeter, Joseph Alois, 4, 59, 127
Shell, 59
social justification for untrammeled, uninhibited pursuit and possession of wealth, 75, 78–80
Social Security, 12, 18, 95, 112, 125, 137
Soviet Union, the, 5–8, 19–20, 94, 107–9; collapse of, 110
Stockman, David, 84
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), 98–99, 141
suburbs, 35
Sumner, William Graham, 63, 78
survival of the fittest, 63
takeovers, 45
taxation: broad attitude toward, 36; compelling role in culture of contenment, 33–34; disparate impact of, 38–39, 139; disparity of interest between two sides on, 36–38; inflation and, 33–34; in macroeconomic policy, 34; reductions, 21–22, 80–82; regressive, 79; relationship between public services and, 35–36; Republic Party on, 112–13; resistance in culture of contentment, 34
Thatcher, Margaret, 118
Three Mile Island accident, 122
Tolstoy, Leo, 53
trade deficits, 73
trickle-down theory, 84
Truman, Harry S., 116
Tugwell, Rexford Guy, 4
Unemployment Insurance, 83
Veblen, Thorstein, 63
Versailles Conference, 89
Vietnam War, 99–100, 109, 116, 121, 130
voting, 117
Waligorski, Conrad P., 61
Wall Street Journal, 80
Wanniski, Jude, 80
Warsaw Pact, 107
Wealth and Poverty, 79
wealthy, the, 11–12; finding social justification for untrammeled, uninhibited pursuit and possession of wealth, 75, 78–80; inheritance and, 79–80; natural selection and, 63; service in the military, 100–101; tax cuts for, 21–22, 80–82
welfare state, the, 35; Charles A. Murray on, 82–83
Western Europe, underclass in, 27–28
White, Harry Dexter, 4
Worker’s Compensation, 83
World Bank, 91