1586486914-Morris.qxd:1586484141-fm.qxd
11/26/08
9:09 AM
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CHAPTER 1
The Death of Liberalism
F
or connoisseurs of misery, the ten years from 1973 through 1982 are a feast of low points. The rate of economic growth was one of the worst for any comparable period since the end of World War II. The country endured one of the worst periods of inflation in American history, and foreign investors fled the dollar as if it were the Mexican peso. Japanese companies humiliated American standard-bearers in one flagship industry after another. Layoffs and short shifts spread through heavy industry. America’s once-humming industrial heartland transmuted into the Rust Belt. The OPEC nations increased oil prices tenfold and strongarmed their way into ownership interests in Big Oil’s production arms. There were war protests and campus battles. Cities were awash in crime and disorder. New York City went to the edge
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