Well, we sure heard a lot about those classy pigs lately. But it was a surprise to some people that pigs had such good taste. Some of us always knew it. And now the whole country does too. Pigs love to look good. You can slop in mud and goo (like Washington, D.C.) just so much. Then it's time to get all fixed up with your prettiest shade of pink lipstick and hustle over to the next farm, pick up your lady friends and go out on the town. And there is no shame in being a pig. They know full well that lipstick would never change that. They are proud to be the pigs that they are. Let's face it, we all know a lot of people that we would love to change, if it was as easy as wearing lipstick.
But no. No matter how classy some look, they are still _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
Ohh, I wonder what that spells. Hmmm....
Lipstick On A Pig T-Shirt will surely get a laugh this election year, and laughing is good for us, right? When we watch our government at work, we must laugh to keep from crying. Wear it to the polls, it will help especially if the lines are long, and we do hope that the lines are long. As much as we don't like to wait, we hope everyone learns about the candidates and votes.

Why, why did the little piggy cry wee, wee, wee all the way home? All the way? Why indeed. He loves his family, loves his country, and had a good job. But times have changed.
The Official American Pig has been outsourced. Yes, that's right. That's what I said, the American Pig has been outsourced. This poor little capitalist pig, is crying all the way home to tell his family, that an Indian Pig has taken his job. Oh no! Oh have mercy! Why? Why?
Because the Big Bad Wolf, that now runs the world, and has allegiance to nothing but money and making more of it, sent the poor little piggy's job to India. And the Big Bad Wolf could care less about the poor little pig's tears. What...what will he tell his family now?
He was so skilled. He conducted himself with such expertise. He got the better education that this country, his country, required. For years he learned all of the intricate techniques of being the official American Pig. No one could wave the flag like him. He was a trained professional. He could even wave two at once, that's high level expertise. And he could take all of the abuse, the name calling, with complete professionalism..."you American Pig, you capitalist pi-i-e-i-e-i-g! Spethh. I spit on you!" He was proud to take those horrid gobs that covered him for his country's sake. He wore them like a dignitary's robe. He was like a king in his coat of many colors.
Yes, that's right, he was a stinken American Pig.
But the Big Bad Wolf doesn't like the little piggy anymore. He used to like him. The little piggy and his friend that went to market with him, helped make the Big Bad Wolf what he is today. At one time he was just a plain old bad wolf. But now, because of the little piggy and his market buddy, he is a Big Bad Wolf. Is he thankful? Does he express gratitude? No! No he doesn't. As a matter of fact, he thinks he pays way too much for the little piggy. The Big Bad Wolf doesn't think he owes him a job at all. The Big Bad Wolf thinks the little piggy is lucky that he doesn't just eat him for dinner (but he'll get to that in time).
So now, the global market place has replaced the little piggy's neighborhood market. Globalization has infected his workplace like some funked up bacteria and there seems to be no antibiotic that will kill it. No cure at all. No super drug to be found. The cursed H1B virus is sucking the very life out of all of the little piggies. (Many believe the Big Bad Wolf had the C.I.A. purposely inject it into unsuspecting little pigs. While that allegation is widely believed, it is hard to prove.)
"It's worldwide, it's contagious," the poor little piggy screams to his family. "Everyone has caught it. We have to run...RUN!" But there really is no where to run to. We have become one big global tower of Babel, all joined together to make a great name for ourselves, and yet...hating our own.
The little piggy seriously regrets working for the Big Bad Wolf now.
He seriously regrets giving him the benefit of the doubt, he knew about his bad history, his bad reputation. He knew how the Big Bad Wolf blew apart many other piggy communities and ate his little friends as a gourmet meal. (Everyone knows that any meal tastes better if it's dripping in bacon.) But he chose to ignore the warning signs, and he sold his soul to the Big Bad Wolf. "Why can't they wave their own flags," he wonders, "why do they have to wave my flag?"
The poor little piggy is very sad.
Now what will the little piggy do? He does not want to die...not yet! He had so much more to give. But now, since the foreign piggies have taken his flag, the poor little American Pig knows he can't go to market any longer and he knows now, sadly, that there will be no more roast beef. He will have to go into hiding.
Why?
Because now...now...he's going to be someone's bacon. Someone's breakfast. He's been fattened for the kill. And he knows how tasty he looks to the marketeers.
He's what's for dinner.
After all, what good is an American Pig with no job? No good at all.
Might as well eat him.

Let's face it, who doesn't want to be a bum.
Bums have all of the power and who doesn't want power? Right? Right.
We all want power. Of course, the down side is that sometimes there is a call to throw all the bums out, but generally speaking, this never happens. So despite their periodic bad reputation, everyone wants to be a bum.
Let's look at the facts. One minute you could be a struggling attorney suing the pants off of a real or fabricated enemy, or, teaching other struggling-soon-to-be-attorneys, how all of the pants in the world should belong to them. Then by happenstance, you find yourself to be a bum. Now, the same people that lost their pants to you and don't particularly like running around with their fannies exposed for all the world to see, pay you to continue to take them to the cleaners. They have plenty of reasons to want to dispose of you, but the fact of the matter is, you are now a bum. Bums bring out the strangest behavior in their constituents. Bums tell their bottomless constituents how they will fight for them now, since they have no pants. This is always well received. But let's face it, if you are standing around, basically flashing the world, you would receive anything well, even if it's from the very bum that took your pants in the first place.
Yes sir. "We're the bums of America and we're on your side," they tell us. "Yay!" We love it. See, they care about us. They like us, they really, really like us.
So bums really do have the life. And they can change the rules as often as they need to, in order to keep the life. Who knows if you will belong to the same bum tomorrow or not.
And bums also get to become world class travelers. They care about the peoples of the world so very much, you know. These folks tend to have more colorful pants, and they are cheaper, so our bums want them. Well of course they do, their own constituents don't have pants any longer...they're na-e-ck-e-e-ad!
Bums are treated very special. They like to eat well. They like to be invited to nice meals. Now, let's face it, if you have no pants, you really can't take your bum to a nice restaurant. Most restaurants require shoes at the very least. And nice restaurants require a jacket and tie as well. So these restaurants wouldn't appreciate a clientele with their tushies exposed. So unless you can figure out how to get new pants that the bums won't take, and cover up those privates, you get bupkis.
Yes it's true, bums have great perks.
But like we've already established, there is the periodic call to throw the bums out. By that we generally mean, 'your' bums not 'our' bums. We may have no pants at all, thanks to our bums, but they're our bums and we're keeping them.
Does this fig leaf make me look fat?

A wise man (P.T. Barnum) once said, 'There's a sucker born every minute." Don't let that be you next Election Day. Wear this Throw The Bums Out T-Shirt and encourage others to vote for none of the above.

Let's admit it, using food for fuel is an ethically bankrupt act of hate towards our neighbors. We simply can't defend our lifestyle, while using food to support it, at the same time our neighbors around the world are starving. Especially when we have so much inedible material to use (seems like this is its purpose), it is a crime to burn food for fuel. America has an abundance of oil, clean burning coal, natural gas, and we can build safe nuclear plants. We can continue to experiment with wind and solar energy as well.
We can't eat oil.
We can't eat coal.
We can't eat natural gas.
We can't eat nuclear energy.
Petrophobia will kill us. This election vote for driving, flying, turning on lights, flushing toilets, processing food, clean packaging of food, nice houses, clothing, medicine, vacations, the list is endless. Vote to continue our way of life. It is not evil. Oil is not evil. The Congress and environmentalists want to prevent you from driving. Vote for whoever will drill now. Wear the funny Petrophobia T-Shirt to the next rally. It might be fun, or maybe it will cause a riot. Sometimes riots are fun too.

Uncle Sam wants American politicians to work 'for' the citizens. Uncle Sam wants American politicians to cut the crap! He seems very upset these days. Look at him shake his finger at us. And why not. Our jobs and whole occupations have been shipped to India and China and other countries. But our President and our Congress, Democrats and Republicans, like to pretend that they are pro-American. Instead they have been screwing the American people for years. Both parties in Congress have been engaging in the wholesale sell out of Americans for decades. Bill Gates wants unlimited H1B replacement workers. He and most other corporations much prefer slave labor to American employees. And our government keeps giving him what he wants. And yet they want more and more taxes out of us. We need another revolution. And the same old cry will do just find...NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. Congressmen and Senators are like 'boogers'. You just gotta clean house once in a while. Kick, or pick, those suckers out! Give them a Uncle Sam T-Shirt as a going away present.

Change! It's the law! Laws are to be obeyed. Right? Change or die. Don't make the man in the uniform angry. Obama has sent out the memo. November will never be the same. Is change always good? We'll find out. It's coming one way or another. If he wins you'd better be ready with the official Change, It's The Law T-Shirt. Are we going to be yelled at for the next four years? I hate being yelled at.

We could not have come up with worse candidates if we were actively trying. We're DOOOOMMMED! We're Doomed! Doomed! Doomed! There is no hope. Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dee. That's our choice for president. Were we smoking dope for the past two years? How did this happen?
We're Doomed T-Shirt will be the perfect attire for Election Day. Laugh! Laugh or you might cry. In any case, you know you will get plenty of bobble heads at the voting booths, when they see your shirt.

Clearly, I'm quite the disappointment. It's true. Ask anyone that knows me. But, I'll bet there are plenty more people out there that are in the same boat. (I wouldn't be surprised if the boat sinks.) I'll bet there are so many people that can relate to this that we could start our own political party...'The Disappointment Party'.
Well, you know, that everyone will think we are talking about the Democrat or the Republican parties. And we will have to agree, that they certainly are dreadful disappointments. And we will have to admit, that they will be a tough act to follow in our race to see what's on the bottom. But we are Americans. We are a determined lot. If we put our minds to it, we can out-disappoint anyone. After all, we have been disappointed in our leadership for so many decades that is has become a way of life.
So next Election Day, instead of voting for the usual bandits, let's think creatively. Surely we could come up with half a dozen people that could be just as disappointing as the band of thieves that have been the problem for the past couple of decades (and they are all trying to appear as outsiders, they must think we are idiots). Let's spread the payoffs around a little bit. The current crop of scoundrels should be taught to take turns at screwing the American people (any kindergartner knows to play fair and take turns).
So is there anybody out there that wants us to vote for them next year?

Here's what we could do:
1-Hold a contest to see who is the biggest disappointment.
2-Send in your list of people that are disappointed in you (first names will do), and the extent of your damage to them. And may the most efficient disappointment win.
I know that I'll be in the running, but I am sure that I'll have great competition that will give me a run for my money.
3-After we select our nominee, we could advertise, "We Make No Promises". And this claim should be pretty easy to fulfill. No other candidate will tell you that. They are all on a "I feel good!" trip. They have to keep a positive front, we don't have to. We don't care.
4-Then our campaign stomps will go like this, "We never met expectations in the past, so why start now?" We could print Bumper Stickers, Signs and T-Shirts. It's sure to be a hit. At least, no one will accuse us of flip-flopping. And since our skeletons have been out of the closet for years, there's no need to worry about them embarrassing us.
Our candidate will continue to explain, "You think it's bad now, just wait, we guarantee that we'll make it much worse." Oh, that's honesty. And forget about the chicken in every pot nonsense, "We can't afford it." And health care? Health care fooey! "Sick? Don't get sick. You get sick...you die." Yep, sounds like the guy for us. Wreaks of disappointment, I feel bad already. He's very convincing. And how about taxes. "What do you mean, you pay too many taxes? You still have money left? How did that happen? We'll fix it fast. You won't ever have to worry about taxes again, we'll just take it ALL. You work for us now." Yikes! That's leadership! I'm impressed. But I do seem to remember my mother singing, "St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store." Hmm...what goes around comes around, I guess, or maybe I am my mother.
I don't know, I'm just so disappointed.
But I do know that in the past, we always thought we were voting for winners, and lost. So this year we could vote for a known disappointment and get what we voted for.
This could be the year of real 'change'.

You can get ready for the next campaign rally with The Disappointment Party T-Shirts and Gifts from The Smokin' Frog.

In honor of our Government at work spending our money, and they are professionals at what they do you'll have to agree, we have given them their own t-shirts just in time for the holiday shopping rush. Porker, Inc. T-Shirts and Gifts, truly reflect the generous nature of our beloved leaders. They take from everyone and give to...who...not me. I can't even get my roads fixed. And they always want more, more, more. AHHH!!! Will it ever be enough? Probably not. But they are professionals at what they do and we do love to see hard workers. Unfortunately, we don't even know what they stand for. But their favorite lobbyists do.
Do things ever really change? No. They just keep pitting one group against another group. Telling them how much they do for them. Yes, they can spin like tops. In the real world this is called lying. They lie so much, they must use a sterile word to describe it, it must make them feel better. We would probably punish our children if they pulled this 'spin' on us. But if you're a politician we will consider it quite a plus. It makes them better politicians, able to beat the pants off of their rivals. Very light on their feet. Winners.
Well, we know who the hogs are.
This year vote ant-incumbent, write in your votes. Let them know you have had enough of being played. This year send them home, back to the real world to get a real job. And are we going to vote someone into the White House that has been part of the problem for years? I hope not. Not if you really want a change.
Wear the Porker, Inc. T-Shirts and Buttons to the next rally. We still have the power to laugh and Porker, Inc. will be sure to get one.
Porker, Inc. T-Shirts and Gifts will make great holiday gifts for your favorite political junkies.

You know they do. Don't you lie about it. Listen to them. Do they tell you ANYTHING of value? No they don't. Do they actually explain their positions? No they don't. What do they do? SPIN...SPIN...SPIN! That's right...they tell us nothing of substance. Why? Because they think we are idiots. They have to spin, since we might actually realize that they are not for us. But they sure do want our money.
Well, when you go to the next campaign rally or debate wear the They Must Think We're Idiots T-Shirt and give out the buttons. Let them know that you're on to them. Let them know that we will no longer settle for the usual Democrat and Republican slop.

Oh no! It's that time of year again. It certainly isn't for the faint of heart. These people that are constantly in my face and want my vote...who are they? Where do they come from? When will their ads STOP? Their ads say one thing but when I pull the lever something else pops out and says that's what I voted for. It's terrifying. It's unnerving. Is it me? Election Day seems to be a sequel to Halloween. The hobgoblins of government are far more terrifying than the hobgoblins of the graveyard. Or am I just being redundant. Hmmm. In any case we can't stop this train. Another Election is coming...AHHH!!! Run for your life!
Elections scare me to death.
Another Election T-Shirt

Now, who are you going to believe? Haven't you figured out yet that neither party tells the truth. The 'public servant' impersonators, that are running for office again, have been in office for years. How can they honestly say they will make a difference? They made the mess that they are now railing against. To be 'picked' to run, you have to be bought and sold a dozen times by the party machines.
Who is for America? Who's a fan? Vote the bums out!
America T-Shirt

Well it is now official...Congress is full of HOOEY!!! They actually have lower ratings than Bush. What a feat. Are liberals being polled? This is amazing. I have a suggestion...OUTSOURCE THEM! Why not? We all want to save money, don't we? Replace them with the H1-B workers that they have been importing in droves. Congress should agree to this since they are very much in favor of slave labor. Remember the ancient cry "Cut their pay and send them home"? Words that still sound sweet today. But of course if we did this the sun may not come up tomorrow, or so we are told. But we can dream can't we? Sure we can, and we can wear this cool Outsource Congress 2 T-Shirt and live in our delusional world a while longer.

Lower ratings than Bush! Wow! See, it just doesn't matter which party is in there. They simply do not care about the American people, and we know it. Vote them out! Vote for anyone else, your husband, wife, your friend...or me! If called upon to run, that is probably what I'll do...RUN AWAY VERY VERY FAST! But in any case we might help to break the back of the two party monstrosity that rules us. Get started on this endeavor with the cool Outsource Congress 3 T-Shirt.

Now look, we have to be reasonable here. While it is true that our public servants are quite infuriating, we simply must control the desire to wring their necks. I know, I know, it is good to release our frustrations, but if we do not control this overwhelming urge to make the pain stop, they will put us in jail. So the No Strangling T-Shirt clearly prohibits this satisfying, though unlawful, activity.

The art of politics today means the art of lying. It is so bad that they can't even say the word 'lie'. It has been greatly sterilized. Politicians and the media much prefer the word 'spin'. Ahh, that sounds better, easier on the ears. More acceptable. Why it makes the liar, uh politician, look more like a skilled technician. Oh, they are skilled alright, in dance. At any given moment on any given topic, they can dance around the issue like Fred Astaire. So light on their feet, never really landing on terra firma. They lie whether or not they have to. It's reflexive. It's almost a requirement to be pathological to get into politics today. To be a politician today you have to have a Bizzarro World Reality. If our family members made the claims that politicians make, we would have them committed to an asylum, locked up in the attic, or at the very least, hold an intervention. But no. We keep voting for them. Some one's crazy. Is it them or us? Hmmm. Enough. Wear the None of the Above T-Shirt, and vote for different people.

Wearing an Outsourced in America T-Shirt is probably the only pull that screwed Americans have. But wear it anyway.
The government (we, the taxpayers) have spent millions of dollars in foreign aid to India and other countries for education. Then the corporations, that have been in bed with our leaders, hire this cheap source of labor. The taxpayers are whammed twice. We train them and then pay for them to take our jobs. And the politicians want our votes. Both parties have sold us out. Unfortunately most Americans won't care until it is their job that is shipped out.

Do you know this sow? Of course you do. It is not a mystery. It is either a Republican or a Democrat. Yes, you are right, it is both. The lines have truly blurred. The only thing we know for sure about these sows is that they have a bottomless pit of an appetite when it comes to money. Your money that is. "Feed me!" cry the sows. Their craving is never appeased. They spend millions and millions of dollars on getting elected. And we give it to them so freely. Maybe we are crazy too? But look at the reasoning. They have no problem spending millions of our hard earned dollars on spin, lies, and then have the audacity to call the electorate names if they do not want their taxes raised. Such caring thieves.
Now is the time for courage. Real courage. Stop voting lazy. These two parties are against the people. Vote the Democrat and the Republican parties out of office. Write-in your votes. It just takes a few extra minutes.
The Sows of Congress can smell out money and microphones like nobody else. At least, wearing the Political Pig T-Shirt we can laugh instead of cry.

A truly bi-partisan song for our government.
C'mon everybody, sing. We all know the words..."Liar, Liar, pants on fire, your nose is longer than a telephone wire." Do you have a gift for lying through your teeth? You may be a budding politician. Can you 'spin' like a top? Politics is in your future. Aren't you sick of having to vote for the lesser of two evils? Democrat or Republican, it makes no difference for 'spinners'. Sometimes you just can't get a song out of your head.
Liar, Liar T-Shirt

Why won't they just go home? Hmmm?!?! The pay isn't that good, so what is it? Power corrupts and power hungry people will do anything to keep it. By the way, that would happen to all of us. So we should enforce term limits to protect ourselves and our fellow man that truly wants to serve us. Send them back home before they become the moochers that they are today.
Term Limits T-Shirt

The programmers that had to train their own H1-B replacements know this all too well. There sadly is a coldness that is coming over us. We simply do not care about our neighbor's job. Just get another. One person said to the President that they had three jobs. He said that was great. Huh? Was it really necessary to explain that the three had to replaced the one that he previously had? Apparently. So much for spending time with your family. We care more about smoking laws than if our neighbor can feed his family without having to move.
Wear the Outsourcing is a Hate Crime T-Shirt and vote the status quo out of office.

You've heard about all of the recalls of products from China. You've heard about all of the occupations that have been sent completely out of the country. Well, who caused this? Congress! Congress is 100% responsible. They want a fully centralized government with all of the power in Washington. They have taken all the payoffs to get there and they have taken all of the payoffs to keep their power. They are thoroughly against the middle class of America. Now, what do we do with bad product? At the very least we don't buy it again! We don't eat it again let alone saddle our children with unhealthy food. So throw these bums out! And don't let them fool you into thinking they are the outsiders that the presidency needs today. No one in Congress has clean hands when it comes to selling out the American people. No one in Congress today should be hired for dog catcher let alone President of the United States. REJECTED! That's the grade they have earned. Next election reject them by writing in your votes and of course by wearing the cool Recall Congress t-shirt.

Well I finally did it. It was the next logical step under the circumstances. I have officially changed my party affiliation. Now I am happily "Unaffiliated". With all of my disgust for the Democrats and the Republicans, and after calling on people to write in their votes instead of settling for the slop that passes for their candiates, this was truly liberating. But I must give credit where credit is due. So here's to you LOU DOBBS! At least someone is out there calling both parties out on their wholesale sellout of Americans. You can find Lou Dobbs at Lou Dobbs. He's worth watching regularly.

Does Barack Obama really speak for you? On a Majority of the issues...a majority of the time?
Are you one of those Obama Americans?
Find out now. Take The Barack Obama Test. Answer each of the questions. Each time you side with Obama, you'll get a point. If you have a positive score, then vote for Obama. If you have a negative score then consider if his opinions are really what you want for America for the next four years. You're the boss. You call the shots. Vote for who you agree with.

The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2007 Pig Book identified 2,658 projects at a cost of $13.2 billion in the Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2007.
According to the Chinese calendar, 2007 is the Year of the Pig. Fortunately for American taxpayers, it will be a smaller pig than usual. The 2007 Congressional Pig Book has not been this little since 1999, as only two of the 11 appropriations bills were enacted by Congress and the remaining nine were subject to a moratorium on earmarks. There are no indoor rainforests, National Peanut Festivals, mariachi music grants, or teapot museums to be found.
This year's Pig Book breaks a run of seven consecutive years of record dollar amounts of pork, culminating in $29 billion in the 2006 Congressional Pig Book. This lesser barrel of pork can be attributed to the efforts of Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who prevented the enactment of nine appropriations bills in December, 2006, and the subsequent moratorium on earmarks announced and enforced by the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairmen David Obey (D-Wis.) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) in H. J. Res. 20, the bill that funds the government for the remainder of fiscal 2007.
There is still enough pork to cause concern for taxpayers, as 2,658 projects were stuffed into the Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations Acts, at a cost of $13.2 billion. Pork identified in the Pig Book since 1991 totals $252 billion. Defense had 2,618 projects, or 204 less than in 2006, at a cost of $10.8 billion, or 28 percent less than the $14.9 billion in 2006. For homeland security, the totals were $2.4 billion, or 10 percent less than the $2.7 billion in 2006, and 40 projects, or five more than in 2006.

This group gives ample reason for TERM LIMITS! Get it from Citizens Against Government Waste today.

Who's telling the truth? All men are liars. But some vocations are really at rock bottom. And the bottom feeders are surely the politicians. These folks can spin like tops. That's why its so hard to see what's on the bottom, all of that spinning around can really kick up a lot of gunk.
It's all politics. It's dirty. It's all spin. Follow PoliticFact" as they sort out the truth in politics. Are they telling the truth? Who knows. But it can't be any worse than what the politicians are telling us. They've got a nifty Truth-O-Meter and a nifty Flip-O-Meter. Now, go forth and analyze.

Politico.Com, launched on January 23, 2007 and is Washington, DC's first truly multi-platform news source catering exclusively to the nation's 24-hour political news consumer. Politico.com is the one-stop destination for the politically minded. With such features as The Crypt, Pit Boss, and the Smith and Martin blogs, Politico.com reports on events in Congress, the inter-workings of lobbying in Washington, and keeps everyone current on the '08 Presidential campaign. As a result, Politico has assembled the most recognizable and experienced editorial staff of any publication covering Washington, Politico.com received over 2.2 million unique visitors in 2007 monthly - more traffic than all of our primary Washington DC competitors combined. As of March 2008, Politico.com is reaching nearly 6 million unique visitors per month (Source: Webtrends March 2008). Politico.com offers advertisers the opportunity to get their message across to the most politically active and influential audience in Washington DC as well as nation wide.

I thought these candidates cared about the poor? The amount that we spend on campaigns could be used for better purposes than to hire these scoundrels.
WhiteHouseForSale allows you to follow the money trail of campaign bundlers - or people who funnel money to campaigns - as they collect thousands, and sometimes even millions, of dollars from other people for the 2008 presidential candidates.
It reflects the most comprehensive data Public Citizen's team of researchers can obtain. It also explains a little about how we got to this record $1 billion campaign season.

Our government and corporations are criminals. Wonder how we got in the bad shape we're in? Free Lunch By David Cay Johnson is a must read.
Here's what Publishers Weekly says:
Johnston, a New York Times investigative reporter, has spent his 40-year career exposing collusion between government officials and private sector entities as they enrich the rich and ignore consequences for middle-class laborers and the poor. In Perfectly Legal, he focused on hidden inequities in the tax system. This volume is a broader examination of collusion and unfairness, ranging from subsidies for professional sports stadiums to secret payouts to multinational corporate chief executives. At the base of Johnston's journalistic indictment are the highly paid lobbyists working Congress, state legislatures, county commissions, city councils and government regulatory agencies. Johnston also cites the culpability of George W. Bush in his roles as professional baseball team owner, Texas governor and U.S. president, and targets well-known tycoons such as Donald Trump, Warren Buffett and George Steinbrenner as well as lesser-recognized beneficiaries who own golf courses and insurance companies and energy consortiums. Heroes appear occasionally, such as Remy Welling, an Internal Revenue Service investigator who blew the whistle on improper tax breaks for the wealthy and lost her job. Johnston writes compellingly to show how government-private sector collusion affects the middle class and the poor. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
Here's a shocking novel with an amazing plot. Donald Trump, Ken Lay, and George Steinbrenner all conspire to siphon billions of dollars from the American middle class. Wait--it's not a novel! It's all true! Hang on to your wallets as NEW YORK TIMES reporter David Cay Johnston documents the various "corporate welfare" ploys used by sports franchises, retailers, megacorps, and anybody else who knows how to parlay a bad balance sheet into political patronage. The rich don't just get richer--they get way richer. Johnston narrates his own work with a newscaster's tone and perspective. His direct tone keeps listeners engaged throughout. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Here's what Brainvestor,com says:
"...will outrage the average American by showing how the super affluent publicly profess "free market" economics while covertly using government policy to insulate their companies from competition and pocket taxpayer dollars as subsidies.
Johnson explains that taxpayer subsidies steal from honest entrepreneurs to benefit the greedy who manipulate the government. He calls this "corporate socialism" and says: "Corporate socialism makes it possible for Wal-Mart to grab market share by undercutting the competition that did not get subsidies, while appearing to win because it was just more efficient."