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A Fabulous Failure by Nelson Lichtenstein & Judith Stein
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A Fabulous Failure

The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism

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Narrator Tom Campbell

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Length 16 hours 36 minutes
Language English
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When Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, he ended twelve years of Republican rule and seemed poised to enact a progressive transformation of the US economy, touching everything from health care to trade to labor relations. Yet by the time he left office, the nation's economic and social policies had instead lurched dramatically rightward, exacerbating the inequalities so troubling in our own time.

Nelson Lichtenstein and Judith Stein show how the administration's progressive reformers were stymied by a new world of global capitalism that heightened Wall Street influence, undermined domestic manufacturing, and eviscerated the labor movement. Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, and Al Gore proved champions of this financialized world. Meanwhile, Clinton divided his own party when he relied on Republican votes to overhaul welfare, liberalize trade, and deregulate the banking and telecommunications industries. Even the economic boom Clinton ushered in ended with a series of exploding asset bubbles that his neoliberal economic advisors neither foresaw nor prevented.

A Fabulous Failure explains why and how the Clinton presidency's progressive statecraft floundered in a world where the labor movement was weak, civil rights forces quiescent, and corporate America ever more powerful.

Nelson Lichtenstein is Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include State of the Union: A Century of American Labor.

Judith Stein (1940-2017) was Distinguished Professor of History at City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her books include Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the Seventies.

Tom Campbell hosted morning radio shows for over twenty-five years in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Virginia, during which time he voiced comedy bits, interviewed celebrities, MC'd concerts, flew in a stunt plane, landed by helicopter on an aircraft carrier, and even joined a seance hoping to connect with Houdini. Tom brought his vocal skills to the equally exciting world of audiobook production in 2017, and he's narrated over fifty audiobooks, including the Devolution series by John Casey (books reviewed by the CIA!); Conrad's Honor by Alex Ryan; the seven-book Linear Tactical series by Janie Crouch; the Lunatic City series by T. Allen Diaz; thrillers by Mike McCrary, and many more. Tom possesses a deep, rich baritone, ideally suited for the sarcastic detective, the clandestine spy, the romantic lover, the wandering cowboy, or the military commander. Whether it's mystery, romance, political thriller, multi-character, autobiography, or nonfiction, Tom loves giving voice to the printed word.

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Limited-time offer

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