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Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense
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Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) Paperback - 2008

by David Cay Johnston

Bestselling author and acclaimed journalist Johnston shows how for the past three decades, the government offered favorable treatment to certain groups. But for every subsidy and regulatory change that helps one person, another pays the price.


Summary

Free Lunch answers the great mystery of our time: How did our strong and growing economy give way to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and fear for millions of Americans? Acclaimed reporter David Cay Johnston reveals how government policies and spending have reached deep into the wallets of the many to benefit the top 1% of the wealthiest.

He shows exactly who has been getting free lunches from the government?from $100 million to Warren Buffett, to $1.3 billion to the owners of the Yankees and Mets. But of course there?s really no such thing as a free lunch. The taxpayer always picks up the bill. With his in depth 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.

From the publisher

Free Lunch answers the great mystery of our time: How did our strong and growing economy give way to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and fear for millions of Americans? Acclaimed reporter David Cay Johnston reveals how government policies and spending have reached deep into the wallets of the many to benefit the top 1% of the wealthiest. He shows exactly who has been getting free lunches from the government?from $100 million to Warren Buffett, to $1.3 billion to the owners of the Yankees and Mets. But of course there's really no such thing as a free lunch. The taxpayer always picks up the bill. With his in depth 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.

Details

  • Title Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
  • Author David Cay Johnston
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 336
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Portfolio, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 2008-12-30
  • ISBN 9781591842484 / 1591842484
  • Weight 0.68 lbs (0.31 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.38 x 5.5 x 0.86 in (21.29 x 13.97 x 2.18 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Catalog Heading: Professional
    • Curriculum Strand: Language Arts/Literature
  • Dewey Decimal Code 338.973

Media reviews

'A journalistic missile launched against the myth that thosewho mooch off the government are mostly on the lowerrungs This is a provocative, highly readable and well-documentedwork.'
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

'As an investigative reporter, Johnston is a big-game hunter.He skewers popular plutocrats like Buffett, digs up the dirt onunsavory sources of Paris Hilton's fortune and details Appleexecutive Steve Jobs's backdated stock options thievery.'
The Nation

'If you're concerned about congressional earmarks, hedge fundtax breaks, subsidies to sports teams, K Street lobbyists, thestate of our health-care system, to say nothing of the cavernousgap between rich and poor, you'll read this fine book asI did with a growing sense of outrage.'
John C. Bogle,founder and former chairman, The Vanguard Group

'Johnston is an indefatigable reporter whose workrecalls the muckraking epics of the Progressive era.'
Portland Oregonian

'An engaging look at how the superrich consistently and outrageously rely on public handouts whilepreaching about free markets and wasteful entitlementprograms all the way to the bank.'
Mother Jones

About the author

David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who has been called the "de facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States." His most recent books, Perfectly Legal and Free Lunch, were New York Times bestsellers. He was a reporter for the New York Times for 13 years and now writes a column for Reuters. He also teaches at the Syracuse University College of Law and the Whitman School of Management, and he was recently elected to be board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. He lives in Rochester, New York. Visit davidcayjohnston.com.
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Free Lunch : How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)

by Johnston, David Cay

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