On My Nightstand: The Case For Big Government

The title was intriguing enough to get me to pick it up to read. The Case For Big Government, by Jeff Madrick, attempts to cut through the claims that big government stands against growth and that big government actually fosters growth.

Let's just say that I'm unimpressed thus far. Having read more than 50 pages into the book, I find that it selectively omits key points and appears to have been written not as a book intent upon determining whether big government is good or bad, but having predetermined an outcome and selectively omitting issues that stand in the way of making that case.

For example, he claims that the credit market collapse during the end of the Bush Administration was the fault of government to properly regulate the credit markets, all while ignoring that it was the government's intrusion into those very markets in the first place by distorting the real estate market by pushing lenders to provide credit to those incapable of repaying, particularly if the real estate market collapsed. Madrick also ignores that it was Democrats who stood in the way of getting additional targeted regulations in place to deal with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both of which are now wards of the state because of their disastrous lending policies put in place because of political decisions.

This book clearly appears to have influenced the Obama Administration which believes that big government is the solution to all that ails the nation.