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American society has witnessed an extraordinary widening of economic
inequality in the period since World War II that is unmatched among
advanced industrialized countries. In 2003, the most affluent fifth
received 47.6% of family income, the middle class (the third and
fourth fifths) earned 15.5% and 23.3%, respectively, while the
bottom two quintiles each received less than 10%. (Twenty-one
percent of family income went to the top 5%.) In other words, the
richest 20% obtained nearly half of the country's income. That
income (and wealth) is unevenly distributed is neither new nor
necessarily disturbing. What is remarkable is the large and
unmistakable increase in the concentration of
income at the top (Mishel, Bernstein, and Allegretto 2005).

Scholars have tended to define the "public presidency" as facing outward—the president talks and travels to the country. What makes the "public presidency" public, however, is not only its outward oriented activities but also its systematic monitoring of the attitudes of the mass public. This article describes and explains two significant changes over time in the presidential polling of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan based on extensive research in presidential libraries: an increase in the amount of presidential polling, and a shift from polling the public's policy preferences to polling its non‐policy evaluations related to personal image and appeal—a potentially potent basis for appealing to voters. We trace the changing extent and purpose of presidential polling to the evolution of the American political system and its strategic incentives, survey research capability, and political learning. We conclude by suggesting that the development of the public‐talking and the public‐listening dimensions of the presidency pose potentially significant threats to American democracy.

The Federal Reserve is the most powerful central bank in the world. Without its central bank, the American economy would be subject to devastating fluctuations and instability. In maintaining this stability, The Fed dictates interest rates and designs bailouts without the usual checks and balances that pervade US policy making. Most commentators treat the Fed as an impartial referee exercising its independence to advance the best interests of America. However, Lawrence Jacobs and Desmond King's Fed Power is the first sustained examination of the Fed as a potent institution in its own right and an engine for producing concealed advantages for a privileged few.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1: No Class War -- Chapter 2: Caring about Economic Inequality -- Chapter 3: Looking to Government for Help -- Chapter 4: Paying the Bill -- Chapter 5: Will Policy Makers Respond? -- Appendix: The Inequality Survey -- Notes -- Index.

Despite George W. Bush's professed opposition to big government, federal spending has increased under his watch more quickly than it did during the Clinton administration, and demands on government have continued to grow. Why? Lawrence Brown and Lawrence Jacobs show that conservative efforts to expand markets and shrink government often have the ironic effect of expanding government's reach by creating problems that force legislators to enact new rules and regulations. Dismantling the flawed reasoning behind these attempts to cast markets and public power in opposing roles, The Private Abuse of the Public Interest urges citizens and policy makers to recognize that properly functioning markets presuppose the government's ability to create, sustain, and repair them over time. The authors support their pragmatic approach with evidence drawn from in-depth analyses of education, transportation, and health care policies. In each policy area, initiatives such as school choice, deregulation of airlines and other carriers, and the promotion of managed care have introduced or enlarged the role of market forces with the aim of eliminating bureaucratic inefficiency. But in each case, the authors show, reality proved to be much more complex than market models predicted. This complexity has resulted in a political cycle-strikingly consistent across policy spheres-that culminates in public interventions to sustain markets while protecting citizens from their undesirable effects. Situating these case studies in the context of more than two hundred years of debate about the role of markets in society, Brown and Jacobs call for a renewed focus on public-private partnerships that recognize and respect each sector's vital-and fundamentally complementary-role.

Despite George W. Bush's professed opposition to big government, federal spending has increased under his watch more quickly than it did during the Clinton administration, and demands on government have continued to grow. Why? Lawrence Brown and Lawrence Jacobs show that conservative efforts to expand markets and shrink government often have the ironic effect of expanding government's reach by creating problems that force legislators to enact new rules and regulations. Dismantling the flawed reasoning behind these attempts to cast markets and public power in opposing roles, The Private Abuse o.