Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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 Prosperityand What We Can Do About It

As other reviewers have pointed out, if you're a liberal or at the very least an open-minded individual when it comes to what you've heard for the past decade in regards to our economy, then this book will be an eye-opening experience for you. I contemplated giving this book four stars but in truth the author does exactly what the title promises. He discusses how our politicians and media outlets regularly lie, obfuscate, generalize, and omit details from their reports, statements, sound bites, and speeches. I would have appreciated if the author spent a little more time on what he believes are the answers to some of the problems we're experiencing, but that is not what the title promised, so I can overlook that weakness. Also, while the author points out some of the problems inherent in 'big government', there are definitely situations that are overlooked; but in truth that doesn't take away from what the author's arguments offer in respect to the regurgitated lies we're often confronted with on a daily basis. Furthermore, the book is about events in our very, very recent past. Thus what is a simple 'truth' today might become a complex look at a piece of our history five or ten years down the road. This also applies to the author's sources, the majority of which are newspaper/journalism pieces. While the author is meticulous in his sources and presents a lot of evidence to back up his position and opinions, I am more inclined to trust scholarly monographs and peer-reviewed journals, especially when today's journalists are as interested in pursuing sensationalist stories as they are in pursuing some form of the truth or challenging the status quo.

At the very least this book will give you an interest in further research about topics like the 'free market' and whether it truly exists in today's world of big corporate America. To what degree is government regulation good, needed, or superfluous for our everyday safety. What really caused the recent economic recession, how it was handled, and why government regulation of the financial sector is still lacking and leaves us all open to another bubble and perhaps an even worse outcome for the middle and working class. Why tax breaks for the rich are not a guarantee that jobs will be created and in fact are part of the reason for the recent economic disaster the world experienced. How Republicans can ramble on and on about 'small government' but in truth are inclined to spend as much, if not more, than Democrats who are by proxy made out to look as if they want 'big government' when in truth they are interested in government responsibility and society's safety and progress. These are some of the issues discussed and they will undoubtedly make you question the dominant narrative we hear on a daily basis coming out of the mouth's of TV personalities and our politicians.

"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.

Although I undoubtedly fall into the liberal target market of this book, I must admit a bit of hesitancy to read it when I first received it. The cover - with the huge red "LIES" screaming out at me, made it feel like I was just going to read another angry diatribe, albeit at least from the side I probably agreed with. I am more in the mood for intelligent conversation and discussion of the issues at this point, and a little less shouting.

However, from the minute you do start reading the book, two things become very apparent. First, Holland is a very good writer, not at all the angry blogger I had expected, so the book is a pleasure to read. And secondly, this book is very well-researched. Holland makes a lot of great points, and backs them up with extensive research and sources. I won't recap the fifteen points, as others have already covered that information quite well, but suffice to say that I enjoyed this book, and learned a few things that solidified my thinking on the current state of politics.

Unfortunately, books like this tend to be read by the converted instead of the people that could really benefit from the info.

These books seem to never be targeted at the readers that need them. As is the case for many liberal books, it does a good job of debunking the far Right's memetic gospel, but it's targeted mainly at us... and if we know anything at all about politics, we know pretty much everything in here already. It might shave off a few thoughtful moderates and disaffected evangelical Christians, but it fails miserably at speaking the right wing's quasi-Orwellian language of "free markets" and "liberties". (It won't do anything for the vast abyss of low-information voters of either party, but that's unavoidable.)

There are sincere conservatives who take terms like the above in their face value, non-Orwellian senses; trying to reach those people should be the job of a book like this, and to do that, it has to be couched in the philosophies of the conservative elite. With all the references to check the authors' work, this makes for an excellent starting point for researching a debate or political platform, but it's a waste of time to try to recommend it to the people who need most to read it. As a result, my star rating is probably inflated; it's only as high as it is because of the diligent research involved. But preaching to the choir continues to be a major problem on the Left, and the authors make no effort to create the subversive logic bomb that this book should be.

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.

This book is aimed squarely at the liberal left, make no mistake. But, being fairly liberal in most of my views, I don't mind. I just like knowing which direction a book is coming from so that I can read it with a critical eye.

The most important thing to me when reading a political book is this: does the author use facts and cite sources to create and support his/her argument. I don't want conjecture, hypotheticals or theories - it is hard enough with the media giving us just that anyway. The answer to my question is: yes. Holland is careful to back up each argument with fact and cites sources so that you can verify each fact. Having said that, Holland is attempting to argue against common myths from a left-leaning point of view, and so some of the studies used and assertions made are cherry-picked to support the authors argument. So while this book is a great jumping off point, I would not use it as the end point because there are just too many other studies and facts out there that contradict or slightly change the information that is being presented. I don't think that Holland is attempting to distort the truth, not at all. But I think that human nature is to give bias to the information that support our point of view, and that is the biggest problem with this book.

This is a great addition to your political library, but just make sure to balance it out with more information.

A book about the economics is never what most of us look forward to reading, but yet nearly all political decisions are either influenced by the economy or influence what happens to the economy. The purpose of Joshua Holland's book, Lies About the Economy, is to show how rightwing conservatives distort and manipulate facts about the economy to perpetuate their elitist agenda.

His book covers contemporary issues and topics, from the education to free trade. His arguments and analysis are definitely about government policies and decisions geared to protecting the public's interests, over large corporate interests. He argues about the importance of a social safety net for the poor and the working class. He shows how government investment in education, health care, and jobs can help build a more equitable society--not one in which the sole interests of the economic elite are what drives the economy.

He mainly uses research studies to back up his arguments. Writers and analysts from a conservative point of view write similar books using and interpreting research to support their political views and agenda. So it does all come down to your particular political and economic world view.

Thus, I think it would have been useful for Holland to start off his book talking about in general the differences between the liberal/left and conservative/right world view of the economics and politics. This would help better situate his analysis for readers who may not have that prior understanding. It would help explain why your average conservative thinks that big business can solve the economic problems that we face today. Yet most of them don't understand that when 20 percent of Americans own 97% of the nation's wealth, that makes it extremely difficult for the other 80% to raise their kids, receive adequate health care, or in many cases keep a well paying job.

The right-wing ideology in this country is a mixture of greed, selfishness, racism and sexism, and overall lack of compassion for those at the bottom of the economic ladder. This world view helps support and make many in the elite class very rich and powerful.

Holland's book shows us what's wrong with this type of world view and what type of political economy we need to replace it.

The writing in the book is very accessible, and it focuses on current issues. It won't be read by many conservatives, but it's well worth reading if you want to arm yourself against the conservative rhetoric that help shape the economic issues that we face today.

Joshua Holland is angry. Angry at misrepresentations of fact, distortions and cherry picking of statistics, angry at the right, angry at the left, and unhappy with the disfunctional system displayed at all levels of government. If one sentence sums it up, it would be "privatizing profits while socializing loss".

The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy is billed as a book about economics, but it does not read like a text book. It is lively and informative while adjusting, correcting, and clarifying the information we are fed every day from "the media". Mr. Holland covers topics from socialism, free market, taxes, deficit spending, and social inequities.

The facts are, for the most part, well documented. The tone of writing is angry and at times derogatory. Early on in the book Mr. Holland establishes this tone with deriding commentary on the right wing mouth pieces that populate talk radio. If you are on the right, you may find these comments make YOU angry. I would advise you to ignore them, and read on. While Mr. Holland takes the Keith Olbermann tact of "someone on the left has to be angry to counter the right wing spin machine", it is not a continuous barrage and adds to the overall readability of what Mr. Holland is laying out.

The whole point of this book is to make you think about what you hear every day and not just let it wash over you, while repeating and spreading these same dubious ideas to others. Personally, when someone presents an idea or fact to me, I question its source. "Why do you think that?". "Where did you hear about this?". "What is the source of this statistic or fact?".

Language is a virus, and when ideology driven demagogues use expert marketers like Frank Luntz to craft a message, it is time to read his books and get a flavor for how this is done. Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear Mr. Luntz could just as easily be employed by the "other side"; his interest is in language that influences opinion, not any particular ideology. Getting others to think about where facts and ideas come from is not putting any particular source down, only making others think a bit more. In short, The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy is well worth the time and consideration of a wide range of audience, as long as you are not in bed with your right wing talk show host.

Actually, a book to make you angry enough to Occupy Wall Street, and kick some ass while at it. ANd, easily researchable claims adds validity. Go. Occupy every single street there is. ANd enjoy the read.