In 1966, nobody had ever heard of the alternative press. The New York Village Voice had been around for 10 years, but there wasn't a model anywhere else. Today, more than 125 weekly newspapers are growing and thriving in cities all around the country. Most, like the Bay Guardian, are still independent. Most survive thanks to the support of a wide variety of local retailers.
Private foundations are a huge growth industry in the United States.
During the 1980s a huge amount of wealth came off the tax rolls and went into foundations. The Presidio army base, which was closing down and by federal law was supposed to be turned into a national park, had been effectively seized by a handful of big corporations that wanted to make it a model for the privatization of the National Park Service. This was exactly the sort of issue that used to generate huge outrage from environmental groups. Much of the history of the U.S. environmental movement revolves around the fight to keep private interests from taking over public land. But none of the big local or national environmental groups issued a peep.