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

The U.S. government is serving out a free lunch, but, alas, it's a feeding frenzy for those already fat on cash cows. As big businesses continue to reap the benefits of government subsidies--many unnecessary and unjustifiable--Americans are throwing away billions of tax dollars every year to make these companies richer. Through a variety of anecdotal but quite expansive evidence and legitimate research, Johnston reveals that the true dividing line in Washington is between the corporatists and "peopleists," that is representatives who bend over backwards for businesses and those who want to protect citizens. As a narrator, Johnston's passion is evident just as much as his annoyance and frustration with the current state of affairs. While overall his performance keeps listeners engaged, often his discussion of numbers (particularly when discussing shifting percentages of different levels of class income over the past 40 years) can easily confuse the reader. Simultaneous release with the Portfolio hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 5). 
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“A journalistic missile launched against the myth that those who mooch off the government are mostly on the lower rungs… This is a provocative, highly readable and well-documented work.”
—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“As an investigative reporter, Johnston is a big-game hunter. He skewers popular plutocrats like Buffett, digs up the dirt on unsavory sources of Paris Hilton’s fortune and details Apple executive Steve Jobs’s backdated stock options thievery.”
—The Nation

“If you’re concerned about congressional earmarks, hedge fund tax breaks, subsidies to sports teams, K Street lobbyists, the state of our health-care system, to say nothing of the cavernous gap between rich and poor, you’ll read this fine book—as I did—with a growing sense of outrage.” 
—John C. Bogle, founder and former chairman, The Vanguard Group

“Johnston is an indefatigable reporter whose work recalls the muckraking epics of the Progressive era.” 
—Portland Oregonian

“An engaging look at how the superrich consistently— and outrageously—rely on public handouts while preaching about free markets and wasteful entitlement programs all the way to the bank.” 
—Mother Jones