If the guiding notion of medicine is first to do no harm, the guiding notion of real journalism ought to be to deliver the truth into the clear light of day, unclouded by obfuscation and doubletalk.
By that standard, David Cay Johnston is some journalist and his new book is one fine piece of reporting and writing. Title: "Free Lunch: How the wealthiest Americans enrich themselves at government expense (and stick you with the bill)."
In "Free Lunch," Johnston, a reporter for The New York Times, describes a massive shift in government from serving the middle class, those who pay the taxes that keep it afloat, to serving the very wealthiest of Americans through tax breaks, subsidies and giveaways that can amount to hundreds of millions of dollars of free money.
It's a story of a system gone corrupt and the undermining of the middle class that is the backbone of the U.S. economy.
Johnston reveals how the likes of Steve Jobs, George Bush, Donald Trump, George Steinbrenner and Warren Buffett have all benefited from such government largesse. In the case of Bush and Steinbrenner, it came through subsidies that paid for construction of new stadiums for sports teams they owned. They became rich or richer as a result.
Those subsidies came directly from the pockets of taxpayers, but they were hardly the only people to suffer.
Johnston relates the story of a small Pennsylvania outdoor storeowner who was forced to close his business after local government officials approved $32 million in subsidies to attract a major fishing and hunting retailer to the area.
The small storeowner was a local resident who paid taxes, contributed to the local economy, and had never asked for or gotten a handout, and Johnston relates he charged lower prices than the major retailer that was lured in with millions in tax incentives. The storeowner closed because he could no longer compete.
Similar incentives are being offered in cities and towns all across America, and almost always to giants such as Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, on the argument that the incoming business will generate jobs and tax revenue, whether true or not.
"Free Lunch" might well come across as a leftist attack on America's wealthiest. But as Johnston points out, when it comes to handouts to rich, the Democrats are as bad or worse than the Republicans. It was the Clinton White House that chopped the tax rate to the wealthiest from 30 cents on the dollar down to 22 cents, Johnston relates. Bush then chopped it further, to 17 cents, or 5 cents to Clinton’s 8 cents. Middle class wage-earners pay a higher rate.
Johnston concludes there's only one party running things in Washington these days, the party of money, with both Republicans and Democrats beholden to special interests.
At the local level, incentives and tax breaks and the use of eminent domain to secure properties for influential developers are the way business is done these days, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. It’s been so for years.
Johnston’s book is especially timely for two reasons. One is the dicey state of the U.S economy, now on the edge of tumbling into recession, all a result of shameless, exploitive lending practices on the part of America’s mortgage industry. Where were the regulators, where was Congress, when all this was going on?
The price is being paid, and will be paid, by America’s middle class. They will pay through their taxes through the jobs that will disappear. Some will lose their homes.
"Free Lunch" is also timely because of the elections and what’s turned into a fundamental debate about the health of America’s middleclass.
In no time since the Depression, nearly eight decades ago, has an election been so charged with populist rhetoric as this one. Among Democrats, it’s John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich speaking the populist message, among Republicans, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul, the libertarian candidate who’s pulling in numbers no one would have believed just four years ago.
Nearly half the candidates running for president are calling for fundamental reform in how American government works.
The candidates are responding to what they are hearing from voters, of their anguish and their doubts about a system that no longer seems fair.
This sort of wide-ranging debate has to be discomfiting to voters used to choosing between two like-sounding candidates every four years. It demands so much more attention. But in the end it’s all welcome, as is Johnston’s “Free Lunch,” in reinvigorating the discussion of where America is headed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, the new monster movie “Cloverfield” topped the box office over the weekend, bringing in $46.0 million. The new comedy “27 Dresses” debuted at No. 2 with $27.3 million in ticket sales.
In DVD rentals for the week ended Jan. 13, according to IMDb.com, the new release “3:10 to Yuma” debuted at No. 1, pushing last week’s No. 1, “War,” to No. 2.
On iTunes this morning, Flo Rida’s “Low” was No. 1 for the 10th straight week, while Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music” moved up to No. 2.
And in books, Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” was No. 1 for the sixth week in a row on The New York Times’ paperback nonfiction bestsellers list for the week ended Jan. 12, although it slipped to No. 2 on USA Today’s chart for the week ended Jan. 13.
|
TOP MOVIES
Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of Jan. 18-21, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
MOVIE
|
Engagements
|
Box office (millions)
|
|
1
|
Cloverfield (
Paramount)
|
3,411
|
$46.04
|
|
2
|
27 Dresses (Fox)
|
3,057
|
$27.27
|
|
3
|
The Bucket List (Warner Bros.)
|
2,915
|
$16.11
|
|
4
|
Juno (Fox Searchlight)
|
2,534
|
$12.00
|
|
5
|
First Sunday (Sony)
|
2,213
|
$9.40
|
|
6
|
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (
Buena Vista)
|
2,963
|
$9.36
|
|
7
|
Mad Money (Overture Films)
|
2,470
|
$9.20
|
|
8
|
Alvin
and the Chipmunks (Fox)
|
2,962
|
$9.20
|
|
9
|
I Am Legend (Warner Bros.)
|
2,525
|
$5.72
|
|
10
|
Atonement (Focus Features)
|
1,291
|
$5.69
|
|
Source: Yahoo Movies
|
|
IMDb TOP DVD RENTALS
Week ending January 13, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
3:10 to
Yuma
|
-
|
|
2
|
War
|
1
|
|
3
|
Rush Hour 3
|
2
|
|
4
|
The Kingdom
|
3
|
|
5
|
Death Sentence
|
-
|
|
6
|
Resident Evil: Extinction
|
5
|
|
7
|
The Heartbreak Kid
|
6
|
|
8
|
The Simpsons Movie
|
4
|
|
9
|
Shoot ‘Em Up
|
8
|
|
10
|
The Bourne Ultimatum
|
7
|
|
Source: IMDB
|
|
ITUNES TOP 8 SONG DOWNLOADS
for week ended Wednesday, January 21, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
|
1
|
Low, Flo Rida feat. T-Pain
|
|
2
|
Don’t Stop the Music, Rihanna
|
|
3
|
Love Song, Sara Bareilles
|
|
4
|
With You, Chris Brown
|
|
5
|
Take You There, Sean Kingston
|
|
6
|
Paralyzer, Finger Eleven
|
|
7
|
Piece of Me, Britney Spears
|
|
8
|
No One, Alicia Keys
|
|
Source: iTunes
|
|
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending January 12, 2008
|
|
Fiction (hardback)
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
Weeks on chart
|
|
1
|
Plum
Lucky by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
|
1
|
34
|
|
3
|
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
|
7
|
2
|
|
4
|
Blasphemy by Douglas Preston
|
-
|
1
|
|
5
|
World Without End by Ken Follett
|
4
|
14
|
|
Nonfiction (hardback)
|
|
1
|
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
|
1
|
2
|
|
2
|
I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
|
2
|
14
|
|
3
|
An Inconvenient Book by Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe
|
4
|
8
|
|
4
|
Memo to the President Elect by Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward
|
-
|
1
|
|
5
|
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
|
3
|
8
|
|
Fiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Plum
Lovin by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
The Overlook by Michael Connelly
|
4
|
2
|
|
3
|
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
|
1
|
3
|
|
4
|
Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
|
2
|
8
|
|
5
|
Atonement by Ian McEwan
|
-
|
6
|
|
Nonfiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
1
|
51
|
|
2
|
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
3
|
50
|
|
3
|
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
|
2
|
8
|
|
4
|
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
|
4
|
138
|
|
5
|
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
|
-
|
3
|
|
Source: New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending January 13, 2008
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
Plum
Lucky by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
|
2
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
1
|
|
3
|
Atonement by Ian McEwan
|
2
|
|
4
|
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
|
4
|
|
5
|
The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follett
|
3
|
|
6
|
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
10
|
|
7
|
Skinny Bitch by
Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
|
6
|
|
8
|
Plum
Lovin by Janet Evanovich
|
-
|
|
9
|
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
|
7
|
|
10
|
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
|
8
|
|
Source:
USA Today
|
