In the aftermath of the 2010 Citizens United decision, it's become commonplace to note the growing political dominance of a small segment of the economic elite. But what exactly are those members of the elite doing with their newfound influence? For the first time, The One Percent Solution provides an answer to this question. Gordon Lafer's book is a comprehensive account of legislation promoted by the nation s biggest corporate lobbies across all fifty state legislatures and encompassing a wide range of labor and economic policies.
In an era of growing economic insecurity, it turns out that one of the main reasons life is becoming harder for American workers is a relentless and concerted offensive by the country s best-funded and most powerful political forces: corporate lobbies empowered by the Supreme Court to influence legislative outcomes with an endless supply of cash. These actors have successfully championed hundreds of new laws that lower wages, eliminate paid sick leave, undo the right to sue over job discrimination, and cut essential public services.
Lafer shows how corporate strategies have been shaped by twenty-first-century conditions including globalization, economic decline, and the populism reflected in both the Trump and Sanders campaigns. Perhaps most important, he shows that the corporate legislative agenda has come to endanger the scope of democracy itself.
For anyone who wants to know what to expect from corporate-backed Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., there is no better guide than the record of what the same set of actors has been doing in the state legislatures under its control.
"[T]he good news is that much of the conservative and corporate agenda recounted by The One Percent Solution is highly unpopular. Large majorities of adults, even Republicans, support efforts to take care of the environment, bolster social programs for families and children, improve our nation's infrastructure, and expand labor rights, even union rights. The bad news is that opponents to the right-wing, business-friendly troika have been slow to mobilize counterweights of their own. The One Percent Solution should thus be a wake-up call to anyone concerned about the economic well-being of working Americans." --Alexander Hertel-Fernande Dissent
"The One Percent Solution is a must-read for all who want to ensure the revival and survival of American democracy." --Margaret Levi, Sara Miller McCune Director, Center for Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford University
"For anyone who doubts that corporations are just as coordinated as they ever have been, or that the most critical issues on their agenda are eliminating unions, reducing the minimum wage, and limiting government social benefits, then this highly original and comprehensive examination of their shared legislative priorities and successes in all fifty states is now the one best book you can read." --G. William Domhoff, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor, University of CaliforniaSanta Cruz, author of Who Rules America?
"Gordon Lafer's One Percent Solution is must reading for anyone who wants to understand inequality in the twenty-first century. He puts names and faces to the powerful corporations who have used their political influence to shape America’s economy. Lafer takes us into corporate boardrooms to show us a shockingly ambitious agenda to remake the American economy. Kudos to Lafer for writing a book that breaks new ground, is interesting to read, and will be of great interest to general readers, political junkies, and college students alike." --Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College
"Gordon Lafer's The One Percent Solution leaves no stone unturned in exposing how corporations’ conscious political strategy has made life harder for American workers by promoting bad ideas such as 'right to work’ and a flat-lined minimum wage. I commend Lafer for shining a light on the manipulations of corporate special interests. Workers simply cannot wait any longer. Now more than ever, every American should read this book."
"In The One Percent Solution, Gordon Lafer exposes the vast conspiracy between corporate special interests and their allies in government to rig the rules of our economy and democracy to favor the wealthy few. Anyone who is committed to turning the tide back in favor of working people must first understand what we are up against―and that means reading this book." --Richard L. Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
"In an age of divided government and Congressional gridlock, Gordon Lafer shows that a handful of the nation's most conservative business lobbying organizations were still able to get some of the public policies that they want―by focusing their efforts on state legislatures. This book reveals the outlines of a coordinated lobbying campaign that could have the effect of increasing economic and political inequality in America." --Isaac William Martin, University of California, San Diego, author of Rich People’s Movements: Grassroots Campaigns to Untax the One Percent
"Gordon Lafer's The One Percent Solution seeks to explain several puzzling aspects of American politics today. Why do people of modest means who depend on government-funded health care and Social Security or other supplements to their income continue to vote for candidates who promise to privatize or get rid of those very programs. Why do pepole who are poor vote for politicians who promise to cut corporate taxes?... [Lafer] meticulously demonstrates how the Koch brothers and the Suprme Court's Citizen's United decision of 2010 have influenced elections and public policy in the states." --Diane Ravitch The New York Review of Books
"Lafer (Univ. of Oregon) focuses interdisciplinary attention on the strategies and tactics of a handful of registered nationwide lobbyists (American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans for Prosperity, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the National Federation of Independent Business), which submitted "model legislation" to state legislators. He critiques the policies these groups espoused regarding minimum wages, union memberships, employee rights, government funding, and public education. The author presents evidence of economic impact from these state laws, which contrast greatly from the original proclamations of how these changes should improve a state’s economy. Lafer examines tactics lobbyists used to weaken state funding for auditing and enforcing payroll regulations and promoting charter schools and voucher programs, irrespective of the actual results from those reforms. The voluminous resources listed in the notes are accurate and very accessible." --G. M. Klein, Willamette University Choice
Gordon Lafer is Associate Professor at the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon. He is the author of The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time and The Job Training Charade, both from Cornell. He has served as Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. Congress and has been called to testify as an expert witness before multiple state legislatures.