Review: 'What's Good for Business' probes corporate power
The question has been asked since the time of the Founders. Is what's good for business good for America?
Political science professors Kim Phillips-Fein and Julian E. Zelizer provide answers going back generations.
Phillips-Fein of New York University and Zelizer of Princeton University have co-edited a book titled What's Good for Business, an Oxford University collection of essays on American business and politics since World War II.
A compelling storyline emerges from the collection of essays penned by selected scholars: Business interests are triumphant, frequently eclipsing the interests of government and taxpayers.
The essays illuminate the consequences of business's vast mobilization in the political sphere. The balance of opinion tilts against what American executives of always professed: that there is no distinction between what is good for business and for the society as a whole.
Essays explore monopoly power, the postwar celebration of American capital, corporate efforts to overrun regulation, and the use of public relations "attack dogs."
Phillips-Fein and Zelizer suggest that corporate influence won a huge victory in the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. In the 5-4 ruling, the Roberts Court overturned century-old restrictions on corporate contributions to political campaigns.
According to one recent poll commissioned by People For the American Way, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, both registered Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly reject the Roberts Court's decision. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released last year revealed 86% of the public believe that the nation's politicians are primarily influenced by the pressure they receive from campaign contributors.
Those surveyed, the editors say, handed down their own verdict in the case. Their decision: What's good for business is not always good for society. That's been underscored by the runaway greed at the center of the catastrophic financial meltdown in 2008 that nearly took down the global economy.
Readers concerned about the perceived public policy preference for Wall Street over Main Street will find What's Good for Business well worth their time.
Heffner is a freelance writer based in Boston and New York
