The Government Racket 2000: All New Washington Waste from A to Z [Paperback]

Martin L. Gross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2000

In 1992, Martin L. Gross shocked the nation when he blew the whistle on catastrophic government profligacy in his New York Times bestseller THE GOVERNMENT RACKET: Washington Waste from A to Z. Now he's returned to the scene of the crime and found that things have gotten even worse. He details dozens of new ways Washington has thrown away our hard-earned tax dollars. He details classic pork projects, such as highway projects and ever-delayed, over-budget mass transit systems. He examines politically self-serving radio ads, military junkets and political conventions. He tries to figure out how many billions the government squanders on telephone service. And he shows how we run through $4 billion a year on 127 different youth programs. He revisits the waste and pork he originally exposed-and discovers that little has been done to eradicate it. So he lays out his own blueprint for the twenty-first century, what needs to be done and quickly to create a Washington free of waste and corruption.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bestselling author Martin L. Gross updates one of his most popular books, The Government Racket, with The Government Racket 2000. Eight years after his first book, readers won't be shocked to learn that Washington keeps wasting taxpayer dollars. Gross estimates that the federal government fritters away at least $375 billion annually on questionable programs and projects, such as the National Swine Research Center ($13 million), a study on mail-delivery times ($23 million), and the Robert J. Dole Institute at the University of Kansas ($6 million). The book reads like a lengthy newspaper op-ed, full of short paragraphs, colloquial language, and pithy observations. By and large, his recommendations will sound like common sense to those who crave a smaller government or those who just want to know why the Pentagon recently spent $5 million to build a third golf course at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside the District of Columbia. Though Gross sometimes expects readers to be outraged without fully explaining why (he never reveals, for instance, what the National Swine Research Center actually does), he offers some solutions to the problems he cites: cutting the federal cabinet from 14 departments to 9, shutting down entire agencies, and revamping U.S. tax policy, among others. The Government Racket 2000 is like the report of a government-wide inspector general committed to reducing the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy. --John J. Miller

About the Author

MARTIN L. GROSS, has written more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z, which began the serious debate over capricious and wasteful government, and A Call for Revolution, as well as The End of Sanity, The Medical Racket and The Conspiracy of Ignorance. His 1995 bestseller, The Tax Racket, exposed the excesses of the IRS and asked for its elimination. He has testified before the U. S. Congress five times. Three of his prior nonfiction works, The Brain Watchers, The Doctors, and The Psychological Society, stimulated public debate in the fields of psychological testing, medicine, and psychiatry, resulting in Congressional hearings and reforms. Mr. Gross has been a member of the faculty of The New School for Social Research and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Science at New York University. He lives and works in suburban Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books (P); F edition (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380787849
• ISBN-13: 978-0380787845
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,557,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for democrats, republicans and independents, March 11, 2000

By 

John David Green "J. David Green" (Galveston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Government Racket 2000: All New Washington Waste from A to Z (Paperback)

Gross identifies stunning, pathetic, and gargantuan excesses by our Federal Government. Worse, he explains in terms that anyone can understand the lies and corruption of Republicans and Democrats alike to "cook the books" in their politically motivated quest to proclaim America has a "balanced budget."

Concrete descriptions of duplicate government programs and massive inefficiencies abound in the book, so much so that examples for less than a billion dollars seem inconsequential. Moreover, Gross explains many of the underlying reasons for government waste and offers various pragmatic solutions for reducing and eliminating the waste without materially impacting public services.

Everyone who votes needs to read this book and then march on Washington, 60's style, and demand massive reforms. And when better than during this, a presidential election year.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential to freedom, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Government Racket 2000: All New Washington Waste from A to Z (Paperback)

Martin Gross updates his 93 bestseller with a treasurehouse of new outrages and rock solid statistics. Read this book and then insist on givinig what you've learned to anyone that might listen. Including GWB. Don't bother sharing this with Gore voters. They enjoy being fed a diet of sewage,

Anyone that reads this and comes away sanguine about the rathole of waste and excess in Washington deserves their serfdom.

On another front, do click over to "Transfer" by Jerry Furland. Another honest author toiling in the vineyards for all of us.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books, January 28, 2008

By 

M. D. Tudahl "Duane Tudahl" (Van Nuys, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Government Racket 2000: All New Washington Waste from A to Z (Paperback)

This is a great book. I wish someone would actually implement even a fraction of this book. Gross has come out with several great books in this vein: Government racket 2000 and beyond, The Tax Racket, Political Racket and A Call for Revolution. Each one of them is a masterpiece and the should be required reading for every elected official in both parties. Gross has done his research and it is sad that Clinton, Bush and probably the next President won't put much, if any, into place. He shows that the budget could be balanced and our taxes could be reduced without a loss of quality of government care.

Mr. Gross, PLEASE update this book. You were ahead of your time.