Democracy for the Few or Introduction to U S Health Policy

Democracy for the Few

Author: Michael Parenti

This is no ordinary textbook on American Government. DEMOCRACY FOR THE FEW is a provocative interpretation of American Government that you have likely not been exposed to in elementary school, high school, or other college courses, and certainly not in the mass media. This textbook shows how democracy is repeatedly violated by corporate oligopolies, but how popular forces have fought back and occasionally made gains in spite of the system. By focusing on the relationship between economic power and political power, discussing actual government practices and policies, conspiracies, propaganda, fraud, secrecy and other ploys of government and politics, this book stands apart in its analysis of how US Government works.

Table of Contents:

Preface     xi
About the Author     xiv
Partisan Politics     1
Beyond Textbooks     1
The Politico-Economic System     3
Wealth and Want in the United States     6
Capital and Labor     6
Capital Concentration: Who Owns America?     8
Downsizing and Price Gouging     12
Monopoly Farming     14
Market Demand and Productivity     15
The Hardships of Working America     18
The Human Costs of Economic Injustice     22
The Plutocratic Culture: Institutions and Ideologies     27
Corporate Plutocracy and Ideological Orthodoxy     27
Left, Right, and Center     31
Public Opinion: Which Direction?     35
Democracy: Form and Content     36
A Constitution for the Few     40
Class Power in Early America     40
Containing the Spread of Democracy     42
Fragmenting Majority Power     45
Plotters or Patriots?     46
Democratic Concessions     49
Rise of the Corporate State     53
War against Labor, Favors for Business     53
Pliable Progressives and Red Scares     57
The New Deal: Hard Times and Tough Reforms     59
Politics: Who Gets What?     65
Welfare for the Rich     65
Federal Bailouts, State and Local Handouts     67
Taxes: Helping the Rich in Their Time of Greed     68
Unkind Cuts, Unfair Rates     71
Deficit Spending and the National Debt     73
Some Hidden Deficits     74
The U.S. Global Military Empire     77
A Global Kill Capacity     77
Pentagon Profits, Waste, and Theft     79
Harming Our Own     81
Economic Imperialism     83
Intervention Everywhere     85
Global Bloodletting     86
Health and Human Services: Sacrificial Lambs     92
The Poor Get Less (and Less)     92
Social Insecurity: Privatizing Everything     94
How Much Health Can You Afford?     95
Buyers Beware, and Workers Too     99
Creating Crises: Schools and Housing     100
"Mess Transit"     102
The Last Environment     106
Toxifying the Earth     106
Eco-Apocalypse     109
Pollution for Profits     110
Government for the Despoilers      112
An Alternative Approach     114
Unequal before the Law     118
Crime in the Suites     118
Class Law: Tough on the Weak     122
The Crime of Prisons     125
A Most Fallible System     126
Sexist Justice     128
The Victimization of Children     131
Racist Law Enforcement     132
Political Repression and National Insecurity     138
The Repression of Dissent     138
Political Prisoners, USA     141
Political Murder, USA     144
The National Security Autocracy     148
CIA: Capitalism's International Army or Cocaine Import Agency?     150
Watergate and Iran-contra     152
Homeland Insecurity     153
Who Governs? Elites, Labor, and Globalization     160
The Ruling Class     160
Labor Besieged     163
Unions and the Good Fight     165
How Globalization Undermines Democracy     166
Mass Media: For the Many, by the Few     173
He Who Pays the Piper     173
The Ideological Monopoly     177
Serving Officialdom     180
Political Entertainment     182
Room for Alternatives?     183
Voters, Parties, and Stolen Elections     188
Democrats and Republicans: Any Differences?     188
The Two-party Monopoly     191
Making Every Vote Count     192
Rigging the Game     193
Money: A Necessary Condition     195
The Struggle to Vote     198
Stolen Elections, Lost Democracy     201
Congress: The Pocketing of Power     210
A Congress for the Money     210
Lobbyists: The Other Lawmakers     213
The Varieties of Corruption     216
Special Interests, Secrecy, and Manipulation     219
The Legislative Labyrinth     222
Term Limits     224
Legislative Democracy under Siege     226
The President: Guardian of the System     230
Salesman of the System     230
The Two Faces of the President     233
Feds versus States     237
A Loaded Electoral College     238
The Would-Be King     241
The Political Economy of Bureaucracy     250
The Myth and Reality of Inefficiency     250
Deregulation and Privatization     253
Secrecy and Deception, Waste and Corruption      255
Nonenforcement: Politics in Command     258
Serving the "Regulated"     260
Public Authority in Private Hands     263
Monopoly Regulation versus Public-Service Regulation     264
The Supremely Political Court     268
Who Judges?     268
Conservative Judicial Activism     271
Circumventing the First Amendment     273
Freedom for Revolutionaries (and Others)?     276
As the Court Turns     277
Influence of the Court     284
Democracy for the Few     289
Pluralism for the Few     289
The Limits of Reform     292
Democracy as Class Struggle     294
The Roles of State     296
What Is to Be Done?     298
The Reality of Public Production     303
Index     310

Interesting textbook: Das Lernen im Globalen Zeitalter: Internationale Perspektiven auf der Globalisierung und Ausbildung

Introduction to U. S. Health Policy: The Organization, Financing, and Delivery of Health Care in America

Author: Donald A Barr

Home to the world's most advanced medical practices, the United States spends more on health care than any other country. At the same time, treatment is harder to get in the United States than in most other industrialized nations. Benchmark statistics such as infant mortality and life expectancy reveal a society that is not nearly as healthy as it could be.

This comprehensive analysis introduces the various organizations and institutions that make the U.S. health care system work -- or fail to work, as the case may be. It identifies historical, social, political, and economic forces that shape this system and create policy dilemmas that are all too familiar.

Donald A. Barr examines the structure of American health care and insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid. He addresses the shift to for-profit managed care and how it may affect the delivery of care; the pharmaceutical industry and the impact of pharmaceutical policy; issues of long-term care; and the plight of the uninsured. The new edition also covers recent developments in areas such as prescription drugs, medical errors, and nursing shortages.