Who's Getting a Free Lunch?
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 as David Cay Johnston explores 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 in plain English 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 on the taxpayer. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches-but there's no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill for the people at the very top.
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 tenth of 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.
David Cay Johnston: The quick (quick) bio
David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times, has hunted down a killer the police failed to catch, exposed LAPD abuses, caused two television stations to lose their licenses over news manipulations, and revealed Donald Trump's net worth. He has uncovered so many tax dodges that he has been called the "de facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States."His last book, Perfectly Legal, was a New York Times bestseller and honored as Book of the Year by the journalism organization Investigative Reporters and Editors. Over his forty-year career he has won many other honors, including a George Polk Award. He lives with his wife and eighth child in Rochester, New York.
"We should all read David Cay Johnston's new book before we vote. Not nearly enough of us will."
Just a handful of posts worth reading about FREE LUNCH
- NPR: David Cay Johnston on How the Rich Get Richer
- Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston explores in his new book how in recent years, government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and the middle class to the rich and politically connected.
- Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston
- The official "Free Lunch" website.
- 'Free Lunch' shows the rich getting richer -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
- Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill). David Cay Johnston. Penguin Books. $24.95. 323 pp. Review by Max Castro, South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
- Your Tax Dollars at Work
- An acerbic, sometimes strident polemic about how a very few have gotten a great deal richer. Review by Eamon Javers.
- JS Online: 'Free Lunch' will have you hungering for change
- Review by Avrum D. Lank of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- Muck well-raked, but to what effect?
- Review by John Strawn for the Portland Oregonian.
- On Point : America's Rigged Economy
- Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston says the economic populists are right -- that the American system has been rigged for the rich.
- Bill Moyers Journal/PBS--Bill Moyers talks with David Cay Johnston
- January 18th--Bill Moyers sits down with David Cay Johnston.
- Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)
- By David Cay Johnston. Portfolio. $24.95.
Book Review by Nick Baumann
January 17, 2008 - Sacramento News & Review-About our money 01.31.08
- By Kel Munger. David Cay Johnston's latest book reveals how money is transferred from the American masses to the wealthy few.
Where's my free lunch?
Do you support the free lunches being dished out by the federal government?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byI pay for my lunch, and so should everyone else!
site-builder says:
No freaking way do I agree with it. As long as there are taxes we are slaves to them. Corruption rules from the top down.
Posted May 28, 2008
Your_Profit_Coach says:
It's no better in the UK where we have a welfare state that has created a poverty trap for the millions on benefits. I understand why they don't want to work when they lose 70% of the extra but we have to pay our taxes so that they can stay at home and watch day time TV.
Posted May 02, 2008
PaulaFarris says:
Free Lunch? Yeah right! I've been there. My family has lost everything in a business failure and yet somehow we managed to make "too much money" to "qualify" for government assitance. Perhaps if we had the 1000's of dollars we'd paid in taxes (and penalties and interest when our business was struggling and we were late on our quarterly tax payments) we would have been able to survive the hard times without needing any help. As it turned out we have struggled for way too long.
I say let me use MY money for MY purposes. Keep me safe with a strong military, and keep the public services functioning, then keep your hands off of the rest of MY money!
Posted April 20, 2008
Monteath says:
I don't expect perfection, but things are so corrupt, so ridiculous, so beyond anything remotely bodering on fair. I pay thousands of dollars in taxes despite barely being above the poverty line most my life, then when I break my ankle I'm sent home because I'm "stabilized" and my life isn't threatened (no insurance). It's not the money to welfare mothers that ticks me off, it's the billions to corporations. Enough is enough!
Posted April 15, 2008
LeslieBrenner says:
Is it necessary for the government to award tax-payer funded bailouts to multi-million-dollar corporations for malfeasance, such as Bear Stearns? How could Bear's financial assets be worth $3 billion on Friday, and then -$3 billion on Sunday. The Fed's bailouts have me worried about what they mean and how many other companies in similar circumstances are out there?
Meanwhile these companies are firing their employees, homeowners are losing their homes, and none of them are receiving federal bailouts or even assistance.
To quote from a Forbes interview of Johnston:
"Taxes are the means by which we decide how we're going to finance maintaining our democracy, who pays how much, how the burdens are distributed."
I'm sick and tired of seeing that distribution go to the wealthiest 1%, while everyone else gets screwed.
Posted April 15, 2008
AndrewTwidwell says:
The system has been set up this way for ever. Don't forget who set the system up in the first place, the ones in power.
Posted April 15, 2008
waynekat says:
I've kinda gotten so I expect stuff like that from governments. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear of a real solution though. However, I was wondering... What would happen if there was an election and NO ONE showed up to vote? Might be kinda fun don't ya think? LOL Very unrealistic though.
Happy Trails
Kat
Posted April 15, 2008
spirituality says:
It's true: less money goes to the UK health system than to the US health system and the effect is that even the wealthiest people in the US are less healthy than the average person in the UK (or elsewhere in Western Europe for that matter). Counter-intuitive perhaps, but true.
Posted April 15, 2008
poddys says:
I feel bad for those who truly can't afford things but try hard to get by, but have little ocmpassion for those who don't even try, knowing everything will be handed to them free. I work hard for a living, too hard I think like most of us. Seems I am always at the level where I am highly taxed yet not earning enough to live as comfortable as I would like. By the time I can afford to retire I will be ready to pop off... Sad prospect...
Posted April 15, 2008
Lunch tastes better when it's free!
ZoeyJordan says:
There are unlimited resources - enough to share with all. Give where and when you can. Not everyone is in the position to do so, and those who can, should.
Posted April 15, 2008
Blog Posts from Google about FREE LUNCH
- First KevinKeith Coogan, Now David Cay Johnston Calls Me Out . . .
- Pulitzer Prize Winning journalist (or somebody who created a blogger account to pretend to be him),...
- FREE LUNCH-(book review)
- FREE LUNCH By David Cay Johnston (Pulitzer Prize- Winning Reporter) First off I need to tell you how...
- Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston
- I stayed up late last night to finish reading David Cay Johnston's eye-opening Free Lunch: How the...
- How to subvert the democratic process (Long Version)
- The following is a brief summary of two books I read recently by David Cay Johnston: Perfectly Legal...
FREE LUNCH was a New York Times bestseller...
5 Week New York Times Book Review bestseller (Hardcover Nonfiction)Business Week bestseller (February 2008)
P.S. David's previous book PERFECTLY LEGAL was a NYT bestseller too!
And now, of course...
It's time to buy your copy!
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/05/2008)
You might also like PERFECTLY LEGAL
David's 2003 NYT bestseller
Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and CheatEverybody Else
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 07/05/2008)
List Price: $15.00
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Have you read FREE LUNCH? Do you plan to?
Post your thoughts, reviews, rants and raves here.
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census
Great lens. If anyone wants to find the wealthiest Americans, their neighborhoods are probably listed on ZipWho.com. Posted July 05, 2008 |
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CliveAnderson
You really have done him justice. This is a great review of an even greater man and what he stands for. Lesser men would simply stand back from most that he stands up to tackle. Very Impressive. Thank You. Posted June 10, 2008 |
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Joan4
Excellent review of a very interesting and thought provoking book. Posted May 29, 2008 |
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site-builder
Thank you for having the guts to create this lens. Posted May 28, 2008 |
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Crystal-R-Gould
I haven't bought the book but you piqued my interest. Going to purchase to the book now. Posted May 04, 2008 |
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Your_Profit_Coach
The law of unintended consequences and problems of trying to treat symptoms rather than underlying causes. Who will protect us from these politicians? Posted May 02, 2008 |
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MaryT
Thanks for the great book review. I will have to check the book out. Please visit my Lucrative Home Based Business Lens for more ideas! Posted April 28, 2008 |
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Global_Peace
My heart is racing...I lived a lot of those times... Posted April 27, 2008 |
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Monteath
Great lens, and thanks for the heads up. Most books like this don't get past me, but I missed this one, so onto the list it goes :) Posted April 15, 2008 |
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collagen
Great lens I am sure will be helpful for many and solving problem for others. Keep up a good work. Health Beauty and Skin Care Posted April 15, 2008 |
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mommyrevenue
Congratulations on LOTD, Very interesting topic! Posted April 15, 2008 |
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LeslieBrenner
Congratulations on LOTD! I'm going to have to buy that book. Posted April 15, 2008 |
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FoxMusic
Congrats on LOTD - Posted April 15, 2008 |
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CherylK
Congratulations! Am going to check this out from my library tomorrow. Good job. Posted April 15, 2008 |
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chefkeem
I admire authors who make it their mission to educate people about their corrupted government agencies. Their freely published work is what separates us from a complete state of fascism. Posted April 15, 2008 |
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RichLeigh
An excellent lens! Very well done on the lens of the day. Posted April 15, 2008 |
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poddys
Good lens. I'm looking forward to seeing all the feedback on this. Posted April 15, 2008 |
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Susan52
Guess I'd have to read the details, but blame Congress for pork barrel spending and raising taxes. Support the FairTax if you want to eliminate corruption in taxation; let everyone pay what truly is a "fair" share and let those who want to work for a living and earn money KEEP the money that they earn. The current tax system is designed for people at all levels, especially savvy poor people (not always an oxymoron) and criminals, to cheat the system. Work a season at a tax office and you'll see that it's true. Get taxation under control in order to strengthen the economy, then police the way our fairly-paid tax money is being spent. (Congratulations, by the way, on LOTD!) Posted April 15, 2008 |
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bdkz
Great lens. Congratulations on LOTD! Posted April 15, 2008 |
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KimGiancaterino
I like these kinds of books and authors who expose corruption. Yes, I look forward to reading this one. Congrats on LOTD! Posted April 15, 2008 |
