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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Book Summary Information
Author: David Cay JohnstonEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2007-12-27
ISBN: 1591841917
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Book Reviews of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
Book Review: A Book that Will Engage and Enrage You
Summary: 4 Stars
Seven years into the governmental nightmare known as the Bush II Admininstration, and scant months before the near collapse of the American economy under the weight of a devalued dollar, massive trade imbalances, failed hedge funds, near-failed banks and investment firms, bursting real estate bubble, $4.00+ per gallon gasoline, and the prospect of dual bankruptcies by Ford and General Motors, David Cay Johnston's FREE LUNCH emerged in bookstores. Mr. Johnston's book was as much a warning against these trends as it was a jeremiad, a lengthy register of complaints about a governmental system that, at virtually every level, had been overtaken by lawyers and lobbyists in the name of their corporate clients. In Mr. Johnston's view, the American enterprise system had increasingly become rigged for the aggrandizement of the wealthy few at the expense of the vast many. History will likely show that, while this perversion of government "for the people" was not causative with respect to the Bush II late-term recession, they will be seen as part and parcel of the same neoconservative, trickle-down agenda.
The strength of FREE LUNCH emerges in its lengthy anecdotes. Rather than lecture and philosophize, Mr. Johnston elects to illustrate with concrete examples that leave one outraged, cursing under one's breath at both the sheer audacity and the public's lack of awareness and powerlessness. His case histories begin with the "reward without risk" behavior of CSX, the railroad company whose negligence in maintaining tracks and switches allowed them to increase earnings while offloading the liability for accidents and deaths onto the American taxpayer via Amtrak. Next comes the seizure of the Mullaly and Macombs Dam Parks by New York City on behalf of George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees, followed by a fusillade targeted at the use of taxpayer funds and tax rebates for privately-owned professional sports teams around the U.S. (with special attention given to the Texas Rangers during George W. Bush's questionable involvement with that franchise).
Next comes corporate subsidies given to companies like Wal-Mart and Cabela sport shops in the form of land seizures (eminent domain) and tax subsidies which virtually never earn back in other taxes what is lost in the subsidy. One egregious example: Warren Buffet's GEICO insurance company received $100 million in government subsidies to build a $40 million call center in Buffalo, NY. Another is that of Tyco, General Electric, Honeywell, and others in the home alarm system business who collect monthly fees in return for placing calls with local police departments without bearing one cent's worth of the enormous cost of false alarms. Perhaps the most outrageous of Mr. Johnston's stories concerns the five companies who control 92% of the title insurance business in the United States. Not only is the industry rampant with kickbacks to developers, lawyers, and real estate brokers, the insurance itself is wildly overpriced and virtually unnecessary. No such corporate businesses exist in Australia or Europe, nor in Iowa where Johnston claims the typical title insurance premium is just $500.
FREE LUNCH progresses through, among others, the areas of health care and health insurance, pharmaceuticals, student loans, and electrical utilities (including, of course, Enron). In each case, the author illustrates how big business interests are sheltered from risk or given preference over those of the average citizen due primarily to the latter's lack of lobbyists or other voices in government that speaks on their behalf. Congress, the people's purported voice in Washington, has of course long since been purchased by corporate interests, and similar abandonment has routinely taken place at the state and local levels.
One would hope after all the horror stories that Mr. Johnston would have some thoughts on how to change things. Sadly, his suggestions occupy a meager two pages and consist of two hopelessly romantic idealizations: recognizing that "we the people" are not powerless, and "restor[ing] the ethos that cheating is wrong." In addition, and perhaps a bit more concretely, he proposes that Congressional representatives be given unlimited personal budgets in return for full and open reporting on all their expenditures coupled with a total ban (and zero tolerance) on all gifts and contributions of services. As he correctly points out, "A free lunch always costs more than an honest one." Unfortunately, it continues to be "we the people" who end up paying for all those free lunches.
Summary of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal returns with a powerful new expos?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.
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