The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy: And Everything Else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know about Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America [Paperback]

Joshua Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010

AlterNet editor Joshua Holland demolishes the Right's biggest and most outrageous myths about the economy

Taxes kill growth. Labor unions hurt their members. Government regulation destroys jobs. These are just a few of the biggest lies in the web of misinformation spun by conservatives and the Chamber of Commerce. Holland's book dissects each malicious fiction to show how the Right is just plain wrong on the economy—wrong on jobs, wrong on the deficit, wrong on taxes, wrong on trade.

• Takes down old and new conservative myths about the economy, including healthcare, stimulus, progressive taxes, Wall Street regulation, and more
• Filled with recent quotes from conservative politicians and pundits, from the misleading to the laughable to the totally outrageous
• Tackles specific aspects of the Republicans' economic agenda, including their 2010 alternatives to Obama's budget
• Deftly written and rigorously documented by Alternet senior writer/editor Joshua Holland

With the economy set to be the driving issue before and after the 2010 midterm elections, The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy sets the record straight on every part of the conservatives' economic agenda.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Who knew that the daily gusher of corporate myths and right-wing lies could be boiled down to just fifteen big ones? Holland and Team AlterNet toss up all fifteen for us and knock 'em out of the park, while also teaching us how to detect any new twists they might throw out at us. What a handy book!"
—Jim Hightower, author of Swim against the Current

"A valuable antidote to the brazen lies, calculated deceptions, and vacuous sound bites of those who want to use our government for their own gain rather than to benefit us all."
—David Cay Johnston, author of Free Lunch

"Most of the basic facts that people need to know about the economy are straightforward, as this book demonstrates. It is only the bad guys who make things complicated."
—Dean Baker, author of False Profits

"Joshua Holland's brilliant, data-rich, accessible, and in-your-face book, The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy, should be required reading for every American livid about floating a political-financial system that benefits powerful institutionsand megalomaniac leaders."
—Nomi Prins, author of It Takes a Pillage

By nearly every conceivable standard, the American economy has gotten steadily worse from the time Reagan took office to the present. The anti-government, pro-corporate agenda has damaged our nation for too long, and yet, turn on Fox News and you'll find them still hawking the same foolish theories, baseless accusations, and bald-faced lies. The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy dissects each malicious fiction to reveal how the Right is just plain wrong on the economy — wrong on jobs, wrong on the deficit, wrong on taxes, wrong on trade. However, Holland goes beyond the most recent Republican talking points to explain the issues with the depth and nuance that you'll need to see through the nonsense rhetoric you're going to hear about the nation's economy for some time to come.

About the Author

Joshua Holland is a senior writer and editor at AlterNet, responsible for coverage of the economy, globalization, and immigration. AlterNet is a highly trafficked news portal with a readership of over two million visitors per month.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470643927
• ISBN-13: 978-0470643921
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 99 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fifteen Reasons to Read This October 13, 2010

By Edwin C. Pauzer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Author Joshua Holland comes out swinging against the rhetoric and arguments that conservatives and Republicans have been inundating media and blogs with, in the past several years about the future and stability of our economy.

Holland takes fifteen topics, topics on taxes, jobs, corporations, free trade, illegal immigration, unions, healthcare, the deficit, minorities, and socialism, to name a few, and demolishes their arguments and charges that Republicans misinform the public to instill fear in the electorate.

For years, Republicans and conservatives have turned their message into an art form of slogans and falsehoods that do not stand scrutiny when Holland gives you the analysis, the stats, or the historical reality behind each of them.

Holland's prose is somewhere between strident and measured, but lucid and factual. He offers percentages and charts that are easy to follow and do not bore. He demonstrates clearly how corporations and lobbyists control the message and determine everything from legislation to trade agreements.

This is for the avid observer of the political struggle that is currently raging in this country. This is especially informative for the person whose political awareness is just germinating. The very well informed may wish to read this to recall things momentarily forgotten.

It is an alarming story and a depressing one. It is the story of our country being owned by the entities just described, how legislators do the bidding of their contributors rather than citizens, how our government does more to protect business than consumers.

What was just as important is what Holland didn't say. He was describing the slow strangulation of the death of a republic that was bought through avarice and greed with a powerful message of fear, and the perversion of a dream that belonged to our Founding Fathers.

I can give you fifteen reason why you might want to read this.

I also recommend the following:

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and StickYou with the Bill)

Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane

Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else

The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It

42 of 51 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Won't convert those who aren't already believers but good, if flawed look at political issues December 31, 2010

By Wayne Klein HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

"The Fifteen Biggest Lies About the Economy" provides a lot of good information about how Americans have been misled by our leaders about a wide variety of topics to suit their own political agenda. Whether it be the myth about how tax cuts for the wealthy increases jobs and/or spending (it doesn't--the wealthy spent the LEAST amount of their free capital and rarely do tax cuts for the wealthy or corporations lead to the creation of jobs); the health care debacle of last year (and how loaded PR terms like "Death Panels" were fed to the American public by insurance companies to discourage the option--note the word OPTION--of National Healthcare in addition to private insurance); how American politicans because of re-election funds have allowed jobs to be exported to other countries or the fact that, somehow, you and I casued the banking crisis (it was Wall Street pushing their own agenda and getting sloppy that caused the melt down of the economy) author Joshua Holland sheds light on a variety of lies that have been perpetuated in the media by politicians.

The problem with Holland's book is that there are some factual errors (not huge ones but big enough for someone to discredit some of his rants)and the fact that Holland's tone in the book is unlikely to sway those who don't already believe that these are all myths or lies. If Holland is going to sway those who don't believe this and buy into the political agendas "sold" to them by their party of choice (and there are good guys and bad guys on both ends of the political spectrum that have been compromised by the lack of ethics in politics and corporate America).

Still, the fact that Holland sheds light on these "lies" calling out various politicians and companies for their greedy, unethical behavior IS important and he does a pretty good job with his facts and support arguments. The main problem is that this book will never reach beyond the core audience that already believes all of this and knows much of it already. I just wish that his book came off less as an extended rant and more as a well balanced, thoughtful argument for reform in our society.

The fact is that we've witnessed the gutting of our economy and American way of life by multinational corporations that have no ties beyond greed. I just wish that Holland's book would reach beyond the scope of those who already see problems in our country and provided some fair balanced observations about solutions.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read for liberals and conservatives, alike.... September 18, 2011

By pmsandiego

Format:Paperback

This book won't appeal to the doctrinaire conservatives who have a gut reaction to any criticism of trickle down economics, a tax-free society, and unfettered capitalism, but should appeal to anyone who has an open mind and wants to be able to make informed decisions about our country's future, and who should be allowed to lead us. Hearing [or reading] both sides is essential, and a dialogue more important that a constant monologue of the same old failed beliefs. [Note: If you're a Rush fan, as I once was, you don't want to think, so you can stop here]

As a lifelong fiscal conservative, I have a very different view of what passes for conservatism today - slogans and gut beliefs that pass for wisdom and knowledge. I believe that we conservatives [to the extent I want to place myself with those who currently claim to be conservatives] are ignoring evidence that these beliefs are not an answer to all of society's ills and are buying into hype and myths about economics and government with which we have been inundated for the last 3 decades. This book is one that gives us a broader look, so we understand why "capitalism" isn't working for the vast majority of our society.

I can recommend the book as an easy read that hopefully makes the reader realize that one simple value system doesn't serve well to solve our problems. Adam Smith, the darling of the free marketers, understood that unregulated capitalism has its own set of problems - the trick is to find balance. This book helps us understand why.

As a conservative, I want to protect the economic system that made the USA a powerful economic power leading to a large middle class, relatively stable economies, and the lack of recurring depressions that formerly plagued our economy. I don't believe that government and money for social problems solves every ill of society, but they both have their place in the balance. Just as liberals went overboard in throwing money at problems starting in the 60's, what currently pass for conservatism errs in strangling government so that no solutions are acceptable. This book, and those like it, are important to prevent the dysfunction caused by the polarization of debate that is driving the country over the edge. This book is one piece of the education effort to help us avoid making the mistakes of the past, mistakes that are destroying the wealth of the middle class and that of our children.