Re:Magical Thinking: Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (2011)
by Animats on Sunday December 22, 2024 @02:54PM
(#42488609)
That plan was put into effect, and remains very influential today.
- The Heritage Foundation was part of the implementation.[1]
- Far more businesses hired lobbyists in Washington.[2] Business lobbying used to be a minor activity.
- Academic support was obtained. First, from Milton Friedman. See his famous article announcing that the social purpose of corporations is to increase profits.[3] This gave academic respectability to "Greed is good, greed works". Entire academic centers were purpose-built to push this position. The Mercatus Center at George Washington University is one such.[4] Other academic institutions were repurposed, through funding, to support this effort. The Hoover Institution is one of them.[5]
None of this is a secret, but it's not that well known.
- The Heritage Foundation was part of the implementation.[1]
- Far more businesses hired lobbyists in Washington.[2] Business lobbying used to be a minor activity.
- Academic support was obtained. First, from Milton Friedman. See his famous article announcing that the social purpose of corporations is to increase profits.[3] This gave academic respectability to "Greed is good, greed works". Entire academic centers were purpose-built to push this position. The Mercatus Center at George Washington University is one such.[4] Other academic institutions were repurposed, through funding, to support this effort. The Hoover Institution is one of them.[5]
None of this is a secret, but it's not that well known.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation
[2] https://academic.oup.com/book/9937/chapter-abstract/15727264...
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctr...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center
[5] https://www.hoover.org/about/hoover-story/timeline