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John Stossel

Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media... Hardcover – January 20, 2004

by John Stossel (Author)

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Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media...
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Ballooning government?
Millionaire welfare queens?
Tort lawyers run amok?
A $330,000 outhouse, paid for with your tax dollars?
John Stossel says, "Give me a break."

When he hit the airwaves thirty years ago, Stossel helped create a whole new category of news, dedicated to protecting and informing consumers. As a crusading reporter, he chased snake-oil peddlers, rip-off artists, and corporate thieves, winning the applause of his peers.

But along the way, he noticed that there was something far more troublesome going on: While the networks screamed about the dangers of exploding BIC lighters and coffeepots, worse risks were ignored. And while reporters were teaming up with lawyers and legislators to stick it to big business, they seldom reported the ways the free market made life better.

In Give Me a Break, Stossel explains how ambitious bureaucrats, intellectually lazy reporters, and greedy lawyers make your life worse even as they claim to protect your interests. Taking on such sacred cows as the FDA, the War on Drugs, and scaremongering environmental activists -- and backing up his trademark irreverence with careful reasoning and research -- he shows how the problems that government tries and fails to fix can be solved better by the extraordinary power of the free market.

He traces his journey from cub reporter to 20/20 co-anchor, revealing his battles to get his ideas to the public, his struggle to overcome stuttering, and his eventual realization that, for years, much of his reporting missed the point.

Stossel concludes the book with a provocative blueprint for change: a simple plan in the spirit of the Founding Fathers to ensure that America remains a place "where free minds -- and free markets -- make good things happen."

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper
Publication date

January 20, 2004
Dimensions

6 x 1.01 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0060529148
ISBN-13

978-0060529147
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stossel doesn't offer much detail about how he became "the first of the in-your-face TV consumer reporters," rushing through his career's start and then shifting to anecdotes from his experiences to illustrate how he reached the ideological conclusions that have given him a reputation as a rogue, a tag he both embraces and tries to shake here. Free markets are great, the 20/20 correspondent repeatedly tells readers, while government regulation stifles innovation and keeps consumers from gaining access to the best, safest products possible. Stossel calls out the federal government in particular, citing its "incompetence" and comparing the FDA to a "malignant tumor" (he also claims September 11 happened because "the FAA never asked for tighter security"). While Stossel describes himself as a libertarian, his comments on the liberal media establishment are reminiscent of those of outspoken conservative Bernard Goldberg. Many readers who nod in agreement when Stossel complains about the "totalitarian left," however, may find it harder to share his enthusiasm for extending personal liberty to include assisted suicide, legalized prostitution and dwarf-tossing. Stossel may be effective in small doses on 20/20, but his rhetorical strength diminishes when the print format requires him to go on at length. 16-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Stossel, the well-known television correspondent, was one of the first consumer reporters, sticking up for the little folks who got scammed by quack doctors, envelope-stuffing schemes, and the like. But he found himself frustrated. He would expose the bad guys, and the next month they would be back in business. Why, he asked, can't government step in and help? "The more reporting I did," Stossel writes, "the more it dawned on me that the government is often the problem, not the solution." His book, drawn from his television pieces, is full of stories of government gone mad: entrepreneurs put out of business because they violated a ridiculous regulation; competition unfairly quashed by regulators acting in the interests of lobby groups; laws interpreted so narrowly that they become ludicrous. Rapidly, he went from an intrepid consumer reporter to--in the eyes of his critics--a turncoat who abandoned the cherished liberal belief in the ability of government to help people. Although the book is clearly one man's opinion, Stossel is very persuasive. His thesis is simple: there is nothing government can do that the private sector can't do better, more efficiently, and cheaper. We are being ripped off, he laments, by excessive taxation, incompetent and bloated bureaucracies, and politicians who make decisions based on self-interest rather than public interest. It's a powerful, well-argued, and immensely thought-provoking book, and with Stossel's visibility, not to mention the incendiary subject matter, it's sure to be a hot one, too. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; 1st edition (January 20, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060529148
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060529147
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.01 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,050,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,722 in Journalism Writing Reference (Books)
- #2,056 in Journalist Biographies
- #2,479 in Television Performer Biographies

Customer Reviews:
281 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		71%
4 star		20%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Michael J. Henry

Another great book

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2021

Verified Purchase

I am pleased to have read all of Johns books and I love them all. I would love for more people to teach their kids what he is doing and create generations of liberty minded people who are aware of their responsibilities and able to discern lie from truth. This book can help you yourself do that. His classroom program might also be great on his website...Which I will eagerly check out later:)

Helpful

So, how does one get even?

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2012

Verified Purchase

"Don't get mad, get even." - Robert F. Kennedy

"The regulators believe zero risk is possible, and given the chance, they will bankrupt the world trying to achieve it. The cost and the delays don't worry them: They're doing this for your own good." - from GIVE ME A BREAK

"Businesses often twist science to make money. Lawyers do it to win cases. Political activists distort science to fit their agenda, bureaucrats to protect their turf. Reporters keep falling for it ... Scientists sometimes go along with it because they like being famous." - from GIVE ME A BREAK

"... the busybodies who want to run other people's lives have more political clout. They make the rules because they lobby harder than the people who just want to be left alone. And in the political arena, the winners get to tell everyone else what they can do." - from GIVE ME A BREAK

The author of GIVE ME A BREAK, John Stossel, began life as an Emmy-winning but naïve television journalist. Then, as he describes in the book, he got street-smart and evolved into a libertarian. Now, he criticizes Big Government, and he doesn't win Emmy awards anymore. There's a moral there somewhere.

In a nutshell, GIVE ME A BREAK is Stossel's explanation of how special interest groups distort facts to further their agendas. Then of course, the biggest special interest group of them all, the Government, uses its power to force its agenda on you, depriving you of choices, confiscating your money, and reducing the efficiency of the free enterprise system.

This book, like Squeezed: Rear-Ended by American Politics by J.C. Bourque, is a rant that will justifiably make you - if you have libertarian tendencies - mad. Unfortunately, if you'd rather spend the energy not on getting mad but getting even, neither really tell you how. But, both volumes are entertaining and enlightening in the short run.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Agisthos

From Progressive to Libertarian

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2011

Verified Purchase

This is an unusual book and should be mandatory reading for those wondering how business, government and the markets really function in our modern times.

John Stossel basically pioneered ambush journalism, where he and a lone cameraman would turn up at a crooked business and confront the shady owner. This shock style of confrontation is normal now, but back in the 70's it was new. He made a career out of attacking exploitation by big business and crooks.

But in this book he explains that over time his opinion of the real causes of injustice and unfairness began to change with constant exposure to these incidents.

He made the great intellectual leap that most economists and political commentators never want to take; that the source of big business exploitation almost always comes from the coercive power of the State (state-monopoly capitalism), not from free and voluntary exchange between individuals (free-market capitalism).

Here is where John Stossel diverges from the path of journalistic commentators, where he realizes that State enforced regulations were the main cause of injustice and hurt the little guy.

In example after example, John shows that what we think of as regulations designed to 'protect' the consumer, are actually laws written by big business itself, to monopolize markets, create barriers to entry for competitors, and stifle any genuine competition. Behind all of this is the hidden hand of government, interfering in voluntary exchange between private citizens, for the benefit of crony capitalists.

Contrary to popular belief, almost all regulations passed by government are enthusiastically promoted by big business. But even in cases of laws passed due to genuine public outrage, big business knows that over time, the regulatory board will become filled with their own industry experts, and then become a toothless tiger, protecting the status-quo. This is a process known in political terms as 'regulatory capture'.

John Stossel also talks about his reputation over his career, in that when he was criticizing private business he was a hero to the liberal and progressive crowd. But once he moved his criticism to law regulations and the government itself, he became enemy number one. Due to his experiences over many years of investigating corruption, Stossel became a Libertarian. If you ever have misconceptions about the Libertarian political movement, and think it is about supporting big business capitalism, then this book will be enlightening.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Algona

Real investigative journalism

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

The book describes John Stossel's path to investigative journalism and how his views evolved. It is quite refreshing in today's political environment. Everybody takes a different path and our views constantly evolve. His love for liberty and self-sufficiency is quite different from what most other so called journalists pedal. It is great to know that there are still some journalists out there who care about freedom.

Helpful

John is a true American Hero. Wish we had more like him!

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2009

Verified Purchase

Can't add much to the the accolades reviewers have given this book other than to say the John is a true American Hero for taking a stand against what has become the status quo in politics... and fervently against big government.

I know John has no interest in public office, but it is my hope that others who are moved and persuaded by his common sense ideas will take it to heart and run for office with his philosophy as the core of their platforms.

Absolutely love that John has joined the Fox Business Network and watch his show religiously as well as read his almost daily postings on his Fox Business News Blog. Check it out!

He joins other contrarian voices like Beck, Dobbs, and others who are upsetting the system and liberal, big government spenders, but doing their best to wake America up!

Bravo!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

marti

Economics 101

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

John Stossel has a way of making us understand basic economics and common sense in a fun and unpretentious way. I will recommend this book to all of my economically challenged friends.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

KikiD26

Love Stossel

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a good book that makes you think even more about the extreme over-reach of our government!

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Ian Smith

Everyone should read this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

John Stossel is one man who can see the big picture of what is happening in the US right now, and communicates it clearly and with humor. If only the American people would listen before it's too late and their future is ruined by the greed of big government,

Seshu kumar

A fun read

Reviewed in India on May 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

Details real life experience of left turned libertarian reporter John Stossel. Shows how the government screws things up more often than not. A quick and fun read

Seo

Easy to read, funny and daring

Reviewed in Canada on February 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

Got the book, not sure what to expect but great intro to john stossel life and his work on politics of the american system

Vincent Jalbert

Great book

Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

Great reading

Kindle Customer

Fantastic

Reviewed in Australia on December 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

Common sense and Concise arguments exposing left wing hypocrisy
We need smaller government involvement in our lives not more then living standards will rise

See all reviews