Japan's endless patience with diplomacy in its conflict with Russia over the Northern Territories; America's decision to commit large-scale military force to Vietnam vs. its ultimate decision to withdraw; and Canada's two abortive flirtations with free trade with the United States in 1911 and 1948 vs. its embrace of free trade in the late 1980s."--Jacket.

New York Times Bestseller New York Times reporter and “Corner Office” columnist David Gelles reveals legendary GE CEO Jack Welch to be the root of all that’s wrong with capitalism today and offers advice on how we might right those wrongs. In 1981, Jack Welch took over General Electric and quickly rose to fame as the first celebrity CEO. He golfed with presidents, mingled with movie stars, and was idolized for growing GE into the most valuable company in the world. But Welch’s achievements didn’t stem from some greater intelligence or business prowess. Rather, they were the result of a sustained effort to push GE’s stock price ever higher, often at the expense of workers, consumers, and innovation. In this captivating, revelatory book, David Gelles argues that Welch single-handedly ushered in a new, cutthroat era of American capitalism that continues to this day. Gelles chronicles Welch’s campaign to vaporize hundreds of thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profits, eviscerating the country’s manufacturing base and destabilizing the middle class. Welch’s obsession with downsizing—he eliminated 10% of employees every year—fundamentally altered GE and inspired generations of imitators who have employed his strategies at other companies around the globe. In his day, Welch was corporate America’s leading proponent of mergers and acquisitions, using deals to gobble up competitors and giving rise to an economy that is more concentrated and less dynamic. And Welch pioneered the dark arts of “financialization,” transforming GE from an admired industrial manufacturer into what was effectively an unregulated bank. The finance business was hugely profitable in the short term and helped Welch keep GE’s stock price ticking up. But ultimately, financialization undermined GE and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies. Gelles shows how Welch’s celebrated emphasis on increasing shareholder value by any means necessary (layoffs, outsourcing, offshoring, acquisitions, and buybacks, to name but a few tactics) became the norm in American business generally. He demonstrates how that approach has led to the greatest socioeconomic inequality since the Great Depression and harmed many of the very companies that have embraced it. And he shows how a generation of Welch acolytes radically transformed companies like Boeing, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, and more. Finally, Gelles chronicles the change that is now afoot in corporate America, highlighting companies and leaders who have abandoned Welchism and are proving that it is still possible to excel in the business world without destroying livelihoods, gutting communities, and spurning regulation.

Elmer Gertz recalls his long battle in what legal scholars regard as the second most important libel case in legal history: Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. Gertz's ordeal began in Chicago during the violent peace demonstrations of 1968. A youth, Ronald Nelson, was killed by a Chicago policeman, Richard Nuccio. Gertz represented the Nelson family in civil suits against Nuccio and the Chicago police department. After Nuccio was convicted of murder, the John Birch Society published an article in its journal, American Opinion, claiming that Nuccio was framed by Communists. Gertz was targeted as a prime Communist instigator. After reading and studying the article, Gertz filed suit against Robert Welch, Inc., charging that it had defamed him by publishing highly harmful lies impugning his reputation and patriotism. Gertz writes in detail of his landmark case, which involved two trials, two reviews in the court of appeals, and two battles in the Supreme Court. Although the case was finally decided in April 1981, when a U.S. district court jury awarded him $100,000 compensatory damages and $300,000 punitive damages, Gertz did not receive payment until May 1983, after Robert Welch, Inc., had filed two unsuccessful appeals.