Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

Robert B. Reich, the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the former United States Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Riech’s professional experience is reflected by his book’s content and focus. It provides the practical experience that informs his analysis and the crucial historical context within which that analysis is situated. Much of the analysis in Saving Capitalism is dependent upon that historical knowledge because it relies on comparing the functions and effects of America’s current economic system with that of more than half a century ago. While the same broad system has existed in both eras, many rules and regulations of the free market have changed drastically, as have the actions of the important players within that system: corporations, wealthy individuals, Wall Street, federal agencies, judges, and—most importantly—Congress.

The longitudinal basis of Riech’s study is made apparent from its opening. In his Introduction, Reich writes:

For three decades after World War II, America created the largest middle class the world had ever seen. During those years the earning of the typical American worker doubled, just as the size of the American economy doubled.