Summary: Economic catastrophe usually brings social protest and demands for change—or at least it's supposed to. But when today's guest set out in 2009 to look for expressions of American discontent, all he could find were loud demands that the economic system be made even harsher on the recession's victims and that society's traditional winners receive even grander prizes. Today we will examine the peculiar mechanism by which the dire circumstances of the economy have delivered wildly unexpected political results. Our guest on Pathways today is Thomas Frank, the author of Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right, The Wrecking Crew, What's the Matter with Kansas?, and One Market Under God. A former opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler and a monthly columnist for Harper's. He lives outside Washington, D.C.
