Book Review, Freedom to Harm: The Lasting Legacy of the Laissez-Faire Revival

In recent months, media outlets have carried certain news items that to many observers undoubtedly seemed entirely unrelated to one another. For example, since the summer of 2013, news stories have described the awarding of inflated ratings to risky, sub-prime mortgage-backed securities by prominent ratings agencies, drastic cutbacks in food safety inspections at poultry processing plants, a major spill of toxic chemicals into public drinking water supplies, unfair denials of basic banking services to low-income Americans, train derailments leading to fires, explosions, and oil spills, and the closure of almost the entire federal government for an extended period. However, those who have read Professor Thomas McGarity’s outstanding book, Freedom to Harm: The Lasting Legacy of the Laissez-Faire Revival, will be quick to observe that, rather than being unconnected, each of these developments reflects a dramatic deterioration in or a complete absence of government regulation of businesses. These failures and numerous others stem from an aggressive, 30-year effort by conservative academics, wealthy right-wing funders, conservative think-tanks and anti-government public interest groups, to undermine or eliminate governmental institutions and laws designed to curb recklessly irresponsible business practices.