Levers of Power
Levers of Power
How the 1% Rules and What
the 99% Can Do about It
Kevin A. Young, Tarun Banerjee,
and Michael Schwartz
First published by Verso 2020
© Kevin A. Young, Tarun Banerjee, and Michael Schwartz 2020
This book contains excerpts from the following previously published articles: Kevin Young and Michael Schwartz, “Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: How Corporate Power Shaped the Affordable Care Act,” New Labor Forum 23, no. 2 (2014): 30–40 © 2014 The Murphy Institute, City University of New York; Kevin Young and Michael Schwartz, “A Neglected Mechanism of Social Movement Political Influence: The Role of Anticorporate and Anti-Institutional Protest in Changing Government Policy,” Mobilization 19, no. 3 (2014): 239–260 © 2014 Mobilization: An International Quarterly; Kevin A. Young, Tarun Banerjee, and Michael Schwartz, “Capital Strikes as a Corporate Political Strategy: The Structural Power of Business in the Obama Era,” Politics and Society 46, no. 1 (2018): 3–28 © 2018 Sage Publications.
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
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ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-096-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-099-0 (LIBRARY)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-097-6 (UK EBK)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-098-3 (US EBK)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Young, Kevin A., author. | Banerjee, Tarun Kumar, 1948– author. | Schwartz, Michael, 1942–
Title: Levers of power : how the 1% rules and what the 99% can do about it / Kevin A. Young, Tarun Banerjee, and Michael Schwartz.
Description: London ; New York : Verso, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Levers of Power argues that corporations’ influence ultimately derives from their control over the economic resources on which society depends. When business goes on a ‘capital strike’ by refusing to invest in particular locations or industries, it imposes material hardship on specific groups or even the economy as a whole. For this reason, even politicians who are not dependent on corporate campaign cash must strive to keep capitalists happy”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020006826 (print) | LCCN 2020006827 (ebook) | ISBN 9781788730969 (paperback) | ISBN 9781788730990 (library binding) | ISBN 9781788730983 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Business and politics—United States. | Corporate power—Political aspects—United States. | Capitalism—Political aspects—United States.
Classification: LCC JK467 .Y68 2020 (print) | LCC JK467 (ebook) | DDC 322/.30973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020006826
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020006827
Typeset in Minion Pro by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
Contents
Introduction: Shadow and Substance
1. Where Laws Come From: Schoolhouse Rock! Reconsidered
2. Seeking Consensus with Industry: The Revision Process in Congress
PART II: IMPLEMENTING (OR NOT) THE LAW
3. The System We Are Beholden to Serve: Business Hegemony in the Executive Branch
4. Attacking the Substance: How Mass Resistance Can Shape the Implementation of Laws
Conclusion: A Different Substance
Appendices A–C: Sources, Data, and Results on Antipoverty Funding in the US South
Figure 1: Articles mentioning healthcare, 1995–2008
Table 1: The Senate Finance Committee’s ties to the healthcare sector (partial list)
Table 2: CAP funding by civil rights movement presence
Figure 2: Predicted CAP funding ($ per poor person) by movement strength
