Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill),Books,Free Shipping,1591841917,

	Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) by David Cay Johnston
	List Price $24.95 Our Price $15.72 You Save $9.23 (37%) Prices subject to change. Eligible for FREE Shipping See details Availability Usually ships in 24 hours
	Marketplace New from $12.24 Used from $10.28 Collectible from $24.95
Product Details Binding Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number 338.97302 EAN 9781591841913 ISBN 1591841917 Manufacturer Portfolio Hardcover Number Of Items 1 Number Of Pages 352 Publication Date December 27, 2007 Publisher Portfolio Hardcover Availability Usually ships in 24 hours Product Description *The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal* returns with a powerful new exposé** How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how today’s government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few. Johnston cuts through the official version of events and shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect— regulations that thwart competition, depress wages, and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches—but of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill. Johnston’s many revelations include: • How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world • How homeowners’ title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly • How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses • How Paris Hilton’s grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children • How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent. With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic lives—and shows us how we can finally make things better. Johnston, a New York Times investigative reporter, has spent his 40-year career exposing collusion between government officials and private sector entities as they enrich the rich and ignore consequences for middle-class laborers and the poor. In Perfectly Legal, he focused on hidden inequities in the tax system. This volume is a broader examination of collusion and unfairness, ranging from subsidies for professional sports stadiums to secret payouts to multinational corporate chief executives. At the base of Johnston's journalistic indictment are the highly paid lobbyists working Congress, state legislatures, county commissions, city councils and government regulatory agencies. Johnston also cites the culpability of George W. Bush in his roles as professional baseball team owner, Texas governor and U.S. president, and targets well-known tycoons such as Donald Trump, Warren Buffett and George Steinbrenner as well as lesser-recognized beneficiaries who own golf courses and insurance companies and energy consortiums. Heroes appear occasionally, such as Remy Welling, an Internal Revenue Service investigator who blew the whistle on improper tax breaks for the wealthy and lost her job. Johnston writes compellingly to show how government-private sector collusion affects the middle class and the poor. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. “If you’re concerned about congressional earmarks, stock options (especially backdated options), hedge fund tax breaks, abuse of eminent domain, subsidies to sports teams, K Street lobbyists, the state of our health-care system, to say nothing of the cavernous gap between rich and poor, you’ll read this fine book—as I did—with a growing sense of outrage. Free Lunch makes it clear that it’s high time for ‘We the People’ to stand up and be counted.” —John C. Bogle, founder and former chairman, The Vanguard Group “With clarity, conciseness, and cool, fact-saturated analysis, Mr. Johnston, the premier investigative reporter on how industry and commerce shift risks and costs to taxpayers, sends the ultimate message to all Americans—either we demand to have a say or we will continue to pay, pay, and pay.” —Ralph Nader *The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal* returns with a powerful new exposé** How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how today’s government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few. Johnston cuts through the official version of events and shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect— regulations that thwart competition, depress wages, and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches—but of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill. Johnston’s many revelations include: • How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world • How homeowners’ title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly • How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses • How Paris Hilton’s grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children • How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent. With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic lives—and shows us how we can finally make things better. David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for The New York Times, has hunted down a killer the police failed to catch, exposed LAPD abuses, caused two television stations to lose their licenses over news manipulations, and revealed Donald Trump’s true net worth. He has uncovered so many tax dodges that he has been called the “de facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States.” His last book, Perfectly Legal, was a New York Times bestseller and honored as Book of the Year by the journalism organization Investigative Reporters and Editors. Over his forty-year career he has won many other honors, including a George Polk Award. Here's a shocking novel with an amazing plot. Donald Trump, Ken Lay, and George Steinbrenner all conspire to siphon billions of dollars from the American middle class. Wait--it's not a novel! It's all true! Hang on to your wallets as NEW YORK TIMES reporter David Cay Johnston documents the various 'corporate welfare' ploys used by sports franchises, retailers, megacorps, and anybody else who knows how to parlay a bad balance sheet into political patronage. The rich don't just get richer--they get way richer. Johnston narrates his own work with a newscaster's tone and perspective. His direct tone keeps listeners engaged throughout. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine Customers who bought this item also bought Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-and What You Can Do About It Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism Thomas Paine and the Promise of America Customer Reviews for: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) Rating - Investigative, detailed journalism I've read numerous authors to learn what ails our system: Lou Dobbs, Dick Morris, Susan Eisenreich, David Cay Johnston's "Perfectly Legal," and nothing draws it all together as factually and dispassionately as "Free Lunch." It's the perfect primer for how our system really works. Though copyrighted in 2007, it provided a premonition of the '08 financial collapse and present turmoil. It explains why the cheats don't get caught, the pressures that come ... Read More Rating - Alan Binder states, in the next decade or two, as many as 40 million US job will be at risk of moving overseas 1. The stock market has replaced the local bank as the place where people keep their savings. 2. In 2007, seventy percent of Americans own their homes with a mortgage payment with a potential collective worth $20 trillion. 3. In 2005, the 300,000 individuals comprise the top 1 percent had nearly as much income as the 150 million lower income individuals. 4. Bandon Dunes golf course, historically, benefited from subsidized air travel ... Read More Rating - Find Out About Corporate Welfare for the Rich Get this book: it will make you wonder why the middle class receives so little individual welfare with no apologies to the rich. Rating - FREE LUNCH Free Lunch is full of documentation and examples that show how the very wealthiest politicians, corporations,and other individuals have milked US tax payers by using and abusing US Law, using subsidies for great profit. Sam Walton, George W., Enron, and many others are cited for a great fleecing of America. Through intimidation and finagling, The wealthiest have enriched themselves. I ask: How long will American taxpayers put of with this ... Read More see more reviews See all books by author David Cay Johnston

Books : Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)