Marta Russell exposes the neoliberal thrust to shrink government with the Reinventing Government mantra. "We are dangerously close to a Jerry Lewis democracy where middleman beggars and corporate CEO's getting huge paychecks may replace entitlements with charity," reveals Russell in a devastating analysis of the "reform" of the social safety net.

From Russell's Introduction: "Americans seem to have lost sight of the fact that policies are social decisions and that these decisions can result in the de-valuation and even loss of human life. I am often asked why I write so much about disability. Other topics are far more 'sellable' (that is certainly true). But the past years have made it insidiously apparent that the plight of disabled people, like canaries released into the coal mines to detect whether there was enough oxygen in the air to survive, is a barometer for the 'progress' or lack of it in our over-capitalized civilization. Disability and disability policy--past, present and future--is a tool for all to rate our present socioeconomic order."