Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
by: David Cay Johnston
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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 todays 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 lunchesbut of course theres no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill.
Johnstons 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 Hiltons 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 livesand shows us how we can finally make things better.
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 todays 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 lunchesbut of course theres no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill.
Johnstons 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 Hiltons 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 livesand shows us how we can finally make things better.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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 from the Department of Transportation.Bandon ... 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 abuse and misuse of our tax dollars?Does anyone ... Read More
Rating: - Perfectly Legal
This an excellent book. Some of the things that it brought out I suspected ,but for the most part I could not have amagined that the tax system was so badly rigged. This is a must read for anyone whowant to understand why there is such a great gap in the wealth of the haves and the have nots.
Rating: 
- Verbose, misleading, and not worth your time.
When writing a book about problems in economic policy, the author of such a book should pick an objective.Some authors have an objective of educating the public by pointing out policies or unintended consequences of policies that the public might not be aware of.An educational piece should cite statutes and sources of information and statistics MUCH more thoroughly than this book.This book presented a terribly disorganized one-sided story of the facts.
Usually, the second objective ... Read More
- Alan Binder states, in the next decade or two, as many as 40 million US job will be at risk of moving overseas1. 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 from the Department of Transportation.Bandon ... Read More
- Find Out About Corporate Welfare for the RichGet this book:it will make you wonder why the middle class receives so little individual welfare with no apologies to the rich.
- FREE LUNCHFree 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 abuse and misuse of our tax dollars?Does anyone ... Read More
- Perfectly LegalThis an excellent book. Some of the things that it brought out I suspected ,but for the most part I could not have amagined that the tax system was so badly rigged. This is a must read for anyone whowant to understand why there is such a great gap in the wealth of the haves and the have nots.
- Verbose, misleading, and not worth your time.When writing a book about problems in economic policy, the author of such a book should pick an objective.Some authors have an objective of educating the public by pointing out policies or unintended consequences of policies that the public might not be aware of.An educational piece should cite statutes and sources of information and statistics MUCH more thoroughly than this book.This book presented a terribly disorganized one-sided story of the facts.
Usually, the second objective ... Read More
