[...] the state has often paid for its bailout of large companies and financial institutions by imposing the costs on working- and middle-class people. Such a “bailout” is a politically legitimated transfer of wealth from the majority to a tiny minority based on the fallacious assumption that big corporate interests are at the heart of job creation and economic stability. Production, distribution, and consumption are entwined with actions of the state not only through regulation but also by this proclivity of governments to rescue the largest banks and industrial corporations in times of crisis. At least since World War II, this has partly been accomplished through the awarding of a huge volume of government-funded war and education contracts; the building of federal highways, which have become vital means of commercial transportation, and of recreational facilities; and the enormous expansion of public employment. Until the recent austerity measures insisted on by business interests and dutifully imposed by federal, state, and local governments, public employment was, for thirty years, effectively the only major growth sector for decent-paying jobs. [...]