Dismantling the cold war economy

About this book

For five decades the American economy has devoted some of its best resources to waging the Cold War. By the 1990s, this investment had not only made the United States the world's high-tech cop but had also successfully launched many new industries--computing, chip-based electronics, and satellite communications. But this military-based industrial policy has come at a high social and economic price, as the authors demonstrate in the first comprehensive reassessment of the military-industrial complex in twenty years. Based on extensive new data (much hitherto unpublished) and on interviews with defense industry executives, Pentagon officials, and community and union leaders, this book shows in disturbing detail how Cold War technologies have distorted and drained the economy. Military-led industrial policy has misfocused our research efforts, displaced more jobs than were created, and weakened our ability to compete effectively in world markets. The authors argue that a reversal in the long downward slide of the American economy will require a concerted effort at economic conversion. To counter the long-time military domination of science and technology development, they outline a national "needs-driven" science and technology policy to restore standards of living and industrial vitality. To overcome the "wall of separation" between military-industrial culture and the rest of American life, they propose an integrated economic development strategy designed to break addiction to Pentagon patronage. Here is a blunt and meticulously researched critique of the bitter economic fruits of the Cold War--and a plan for a cure.