The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
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Book Reviews of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Book Review: The best democracy money can buy
Summary: 4 Stars
He brings credibility to the term 'investigative journalism'. Highly informative with a sense of humor to boot.Book Review: Whirlwind of a read
Summary: 4 Stars
Palast bares it all. Put me through all 5 stages of mourning- from disbelief to anger to despair.Book Review: Missing a Few Dots -
Summary: 3 Stars
Greg Palast's book provides compelling and important investigative insight on a number of issues. However, he never quite finishes the job, so one is left wondering. Examples:
1)Florida 2000 Election: In the months prior to the 2000 election, Florida's Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris ordered the purging of 57,700 voters from registries on the grounds they were felons. (Florida law does not restore voting rights to felons; many other states do, and Florida is required to follow their laws on this when those individuals move to Florida.)
Most (54%)were African-American, and most of the rest were also likely Democrat voters. One list of 8,000 supposed felons came from Texas - but they'd committed only misdemeanors; Harris says the error was corrected, but who knows? Also included lists from states that restored voting rights upon release from prison. Many counties did not notify those purged; those that did found about 10% successfully appealed, though a large number had out-of-date addresses and were undeliverable.
The purging process required only 80% name-match - eg. Johnny Jackson Jr. was purged because his name was similar to John Fitzgerald Jackson. Standard registration process required ex-felons desiring to vote to fill out a 15-page clemency application that involved hunting up old court records etc. - a process that ran 4 months - 2 years.
Palast also claims electronic voting machines in predominantly white counties were programmed to immediately reject erroneous ballots (allowing correction), while other counties' accepted the same ballots, only to reject them later. Overall, 179,855 ballots were not counted.
USA Today and others commissioned an audit of the rejected votes and concluded Bush would have won anyway. The problem, Palast claims, is that the votes that never were counted (about 100,000) were not reviewed.
So where do we end up? All states have problems with rejected ballots (about 3%). Clearly sloppy (at best) or highly partisan actions were taken. An objective assessment of total impact - I don't know.
2)Pat Robertson: Palast attacks Robertson for taking advantage of his tax-exempt status as a religious organization. (Eg. Collecting money for a charitable trust which then purchased planes to shuffle medical supplies into/out of Zaire. However, an investigative reported also found the planes being used to carry heavy equipment for a Robertson-owned mine. Also used ministry-provided offices, phones, etc. in another business, without payment.) Then later, he reports both that the IRS revoked it, and Robertson withdrew his application. Bottom-Line: I don't know.
3)Energy Deregulation Around the World: Palast accuses Enron and Southern Energy of bilking citizens of billions in California, Brazil, and Pakistan. Final Outcome (convictions, contract revocation, etc.): Not clear.
4)Wackenhut's Jail Management: Palast sets forth problems in N.M (violence, abuse; cronyism in the contract award; erroneously claims N.M. houses prisoners in private cells), Texas (thrown out) and London; again, however, it is not clear what the ultimate resolution/conclusion was overall.
My Conclusion: Interesting, but credible conclusions are missing.
Book Review: Armed Madhouse better reporting and more convincing
Summary: 3 Stars
I struggled with the idea of knocking 2 stars off of my rating, but "Armed Madhouse" is simply much more for the money (same author). Do not get me wrong here... the book is still a good read, but the self-important - look at me - tone takes away from the larger message- and there is a very important message here. I read "Armed Madhouse" first and would probably have enjoyed this book more if the order was reversed... but, frankly, the research is not AS convincing as the former, and it hurts the message. You should still buy this book, but make certain you read "Armed Madhouse".Book Review: Too Hyperbolic
Summary: 2 Stars
I was initially attracted to this book because I happen to agree with the sentiments the title conveys. However, I was unable to finish reading it because of the writer's hyperbolic and peripatetic style. If any reader cares to know my genuine political views, I'd like to see the USA move to a parliamentary system similar to that found in Germany.
When Palast claims that the Bush family is cozy with the oil and energy industries I can't say I'm exactly surprised. But to then claim that the president and former governor is responsible for the pollution in the Houston ship channel and all the attendent diseases I think overstate's Bush's responsiblilty. Anyone old enough to remember the Cuyahoga River catching fire can reasonably conclude that there's plenty of 2-party collusion there.
As for disenfranchisement of minorities in Florida: who can ever know the true extent of this? The infamous butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County was approved by a Democratic county commisioner (who's name escapes me), and so doesn't really cut it as evidence where I'm standing. And when the Democrats initiated the ballot recount, they excluded it to counties that were run by Dems and where they would have disproportionate representation. There's plenty of corruption to go around when you only have 2 parties to choose from.
As for his criticism of the IMF and the World Bank: since I have an Economics degree I simply don't agree with his conclusions. The Bretton Woods system set up at the end of WW2 was designed to overcome economic instability-admittedly in the developed world, since most countries extant today were still under colonial rule in the late '40s-but the system has raised living standards considerably in most countries, particularly those which follow the harsh diet of austerity prescribed by the IMF as a prerequisite to bailouts. Despite endless criticism of so-called neo-liberal economic policies, most 3rd world countries are reduced to penury largely because of a combination of demographics and dubious statist economic policies which are non-competitive and lead to inflation. Incidentally, the IMF is now in the process of writing off the debts of many African countries, which tend to excell in corruption to an embarrasing degree. To deny these countries' involvement in the outcome of their fate is to infantalize them.
Having said these, I do think Palast is sincere in his beliefs. Since I didn't finish the book I don't know what his ultimate conclusions were; but let me give you mine: the USA labors under a two-party dictatorship which refuses to reliquish power, and are abetted in this endeavor by their allies in the media. If Americans ultimately want a truly representative govt they can get involved and move to a parliamentary system. It should come as no surprise that systems similar to America's are in a state of perpetual crisis-I and don't think we're far behind.