Free Lunch

December 31, 2007
The U.S. government is serving out a free lunch, but, alas, it's a feeding frenzy for those already fat on cash cows. As big businesses continue to reap the benefits of government subsidies-many unnecessary and unjustifiable-Americans are throwing away billions of tax dollars every year to make these companies richer. Through a variety of anecdotal but quite expansive evidence and legitimate research, Johnston reveals that the true dividing line in Washington is between the corporatists and "peopleists," that is representatives who bend over backwards for businesses and those who want to protect citizens. As a narrator, Johnston's passion is evident just as much as his annoyance and frustration with the current state of affairs. While overall his performance keeps listeners engaged, often his discussion of numbers (particularly when discussing shifting percentages of different levels of class income over the past 40 years) can easily confuse the reader. Simultaneous release with the Portfolio hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 5).

December 15, 2007
Despite the trend toward deregulation begun during the Reagan administration, the federal government is larger than ever and handing out more largesse, only now it is aimed at large corporations and wealthy individuals. Johnston, a Pulitzer Prizewinning investigative reporter and author of Perfectly Legal (2004), begins by exploring the subsidies that helpmaintain an exclusive golf course at Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Because so manysubsidies cost taxpayers more than they return in the way of benefits, such asjob development, they are in effect taking from the middle class and giving to the wealthy. Johnston details how the clamor for deregulation and freer markets has actually resulted in markets rigged for the powerful with fewer protections for consumers, workers, retirees, and investors. Among the benefactors: Tyco International, Wal-Mart, Donald Trump, and Warren Buffet. Johnston details how they benefit from government largesse at the expense of ordinary citizens. In its growing divide between the superrich and everyone else, the U.S. is compared to Russia, Mexico, and Brazil in this engrossing look at government subsidies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)