Customer Reviews: Read 82 more reviews...
 Verbose, misleading, and not worth your time. November 18, 2008
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 of a book of this type is to propose solutions. This book contained a chapter called "What to Do?" roughly 6 pages long, 4 of those pages were just more ranting to make people upset; the last 2 pages of "solutions" were no solutions at all. I was not impressed with the book.
He had a good intent - to bring to light all the injustice involved with "welfare for billionaires." However, his message is lost with too many words, poorly cited research, and claims that are partially true, but deceiving in that they are presented out of context.
 Change We Need October 26, 2008
If you want to understand what led to the financial catastrophe we are now experiencing there is no better place to start then David Cay Johnston's book, Free Lunch. Amazingly, it was written last year. A first class job of research by a former NY Times reporter who has a gift of narrative along with the facts to back it up. It is the perfect book to give to those good people we all know who doubt that the system is really corrupt.
Free Lunch August 25, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Everyone should read this book.Find who is getting a free lunch and most are only getting table scraps!
Read in small doses August 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is probably best read in small portions, as the average person will become incensed at the greed that takes from the less and gives to the more. Fortunately, each chapter covers a specific rip off of the taxpayer, and is not too long. It might raise the blood pressure of the average person to read too many chapters at one time.
Yes, the wealthy and connected have rigged the system to flow the riches to themselves.
If there is one theme to the book, it is the Adam Smith's advice that government should not favor one endeavor over another is deaf to the people that continually use Adam Smith as the reason for government getting out of the way. It is not free enterprise when government takes one side, which is what the wealthy and well connected have the government do.
A good companion is Hostile Takeover by David Sirota (available on Amazon Kindle).Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back
His prior book, Perfectly Legal, is a good primer, although a bit dated as to how the wealthy avoid taxes. In Free Lunch, it is how the wealthy get subsidies. Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else
Greed Oligarchy Plutocracy August 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An excellent, well-documented and readable investigation and analysis of how the whole system of American government, at Federal, State and Local levels, has been used for the past 30 years or so to tax the poor and the middle class in order to enrich the already wealthy. If you think this sounds like the system in France in 1788, you are absolutely right. If you are not angry already, you need to read this book. If you are angry already, you still need to read this book in order to confirm all your worst suspicions. There is something rotten in the States of America, and if the infection of our body politic is not dealt with soon, it will turn to gangrene and kill democracy completely.
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