A summary of Sirota's book would point out that millions lack health care, and even more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that provides more profits for drug companies and insurers. At the same time, inflation-adjusted wages have been largely stagnant, while corporate profits have skyrocketed. In this instance, politicians "help out" by further depressing wages by continuing to allow millions of illegal and temporary legal immigrants into the U.S., and additional millions of jobs outsourced overseas. Despite an obvious need for energy conservation, our government takes its lead from V.P. Dick Cheney and does nothing. Welcome to today's world of lobbyists', lies, and legislation for sale.
The "really bad news" is that they're not satisfied. Possible future legislation includes a flat income tax (a huge tax cut for the wealthy, and a huge tax increase for everyone else - per Reagan's '82 Treasury Dept.), permanent elimination of the estate tax (only 2% were paying, and half the receipts came from the top .1% with estates over $5 million), and reducing corporate taxes from their 35% level - "fourth highest" in the industrialized world (a '04 GAO report concluded that 94% paid less than 5%, and that 60,000 government contractors owed $6 billion in unpaid taxes), more personal tax cuts (to justify further cuts in veterans' healthcare, inadequate/non-funding of Army armor and New Orleans' levees - the pre-Katrina official protesting the latter was immediately fired).
Not upset yet - read on. USA Today reported in late '05 that while the 60 worst performing companies in America lost 4769 billion in market value in the prior five years, their top five executives were paid an average of $8 million/year. Meanwhile, University of California researchers in '04 found that jobs in the bottom third of the pay scale were growing almost twice as fast as those in the middle.
"Hostile Takeover" also puts to rest the myth of "free" trade. Provisions include insuring U.S. access to potentially hepatitis-carrying Mexican vegetables and Canadian beef with mad-cow disease, while banning importation of cheaper drugs and limiting other nations' ability to produce generic medicines. In '01, economists estimated that three-fourths of U.S. workers lost about 12% of current wages because of trade deals. At least we still have some - the New York Times reported the loss of over 2 million manufacturing jobs between '01 - '04, while Gartner Research estimated over 30% of high-tech jobs could be shipped overseas by '15 and University of California researchers estimated up to 14 million jobs are now at risk of outsourcing.
There's more: Harvard researchers found that 90% of personal bankruptcies were due to illness, medical bills, job loss, death in the family, and/or divorce. Meanwhile, the Kauffman Foundation's '05 study concluded that 20% of recent bankrupts had been operating a small business. No matter - the myth of deadbeat debtors ruining credit card companies persists, and Congress recently made personal bankruptcy laws much tougher.
At least we can count on retirement - not! In '02 AP reported that 8 million workers saw their retirement plans converted to "cash balance" payouts only - a loss of up to $200 million, according to government sources. As for Social Security, a top University of Chicago economist estimates Wall St. would make $400 billion - $1 trillion in fees under the Bush privatization plan. No matter you say - Chile and Galveston, Texas have proven the concept's superiority. Unfortunately, the World Bank found that up to one-third of Chileans' retirement money went to fees (the public version went bankrupt - hence, no comparisons are available), and several government reports have concluded that many/most/all Galveston employees will receive LESS than they would have from Social Security.
Well, at least some of us have our health. Hopefully the growing number without health insurance will not get sick; as for universal governmental coverage - private insurance made over $10 billion in '03, with top executives raking in $85 million each. As for the innovative drugs many can't afford because of high prices "required for research" - the former New England Journal of Medicine's editor states that they "come almost entirely from publicly funded research done in government and university labs." Further evidence: Princeton's Uwe Reinhardt says that "R&D spending (as a % of drug industry revenues) is equal or higher in Europe (with price controls) as here" - specifically, 20% in Britain, vs. 14% in the U.S.
Finally, "fuel efficiency kills people," or so opponents say. On the other hand, University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers and a government panel all have concluded that cars can be made as safe/safer than most SUVs, and especially better than most pickups.
Truly an encyclopedic work documenting how business has stolen and perverted American democracy. While Sirota offers specific recommendations in each area, the biggest problem involves providing a means for voters to see through all the lies and mis-statements. Publicly-funded elections may be the answer.