The Big Ripoff How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money

by Carney, Timothy P.

• ISBN13: 9780471789079
• ISBN10: 0471789070
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-11
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Praise for THE BIG RIPOFF "Politicians like to say that government is on the side of the little guy. But with impressive documentation and persuasive examples, Tim Carney shows how government power and regulation are typically used to assist the powerful." -Paul A. Gigot Editorial Page Editor, the Wall Street Journal "Exposes the dirty little secret of American politics: how big businesses work with statist politicians to diminish the prosperity and freedom of consumers, taxpayers, and entrepreneurs. Carney employs top-notch writing ability, passion for liberty, and understanding of economics to demolish the myth that big business is a foe of big government. Everyone who seeks to understand who really benefits from big government should read this book, as should anyone who still believes that the interventionist state benefits the average person." -Congressman Ron Paul U.S. House of Representatives, 14th District of Texas "Small entrepreneurial businesses are the backbone success of our great economy. They are the biggest job and wealth creators. Is that why big corpocratic behemoth firms collude with big government for a liberal agenda of higher taxes and overregulation that will punish the small risk-takers? Tim Carney's new book describes how anti-business big business can be." -Lawrence Kudlow Host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company "Tim Carney explodes the myth that big business and big government are natural opponents. All too often, as he points out, they're both engaged in a common enterprise: picking your pocket." -Ramesh Ponnuru Senior Editor, National Review "A romping tour de force of the love affair between big business and big government from Teddy Roosevelt and the Robber Barons to Enron and the Kyoto Treaty. Indispensable for understanding how government regulation really works." -Donald Devine Grewcock Professor of Political Science, Bellevue University "Every CEO in America should read this book today, issue new directives to their bureaucrat-appeasing Washington lobbyist tomorrow, and join in the fight for economic liberalization." -Fred L. Smith, Jr. Founder and President, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Author Biography

TIMOTHY P. CARNEY is a freelance investigative reporter, in Washington, D.C. He has worked under veteran political reporter Bob Novak, has served fellowships with the Phillips Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and has worked as a reporter at Human Events. Carney has written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Sun, Washington Times, National Review Online, American Spectator, American Conservative, D.C. Examiner, and a handful of other magazines, newspapers, and Web sites.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Robert D. Novak	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
1 The Big Ripoff: The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled	1	(12)
PART I FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES	13	(40)
2 The Parties of Big Business: Corporate America Loves Republicans and Democrats Republicans and Democrats Love Big Business	15	(16)
3 The History of Big Business: ...Is the History of Big Government	31	(22)
PART II CORPORATE WELFARE	53	(54)
4 Robin Hood in Reverse: Corporate Welfare in America	57	(18)
5 Boeing's Bank: The Export-Import Bank of the United States	75	(16)
6 Eminent Domain for Corporate Gain: The "Public Purpose" of Big Business	91	(16)
PART III REGULATE ME!	107	(66)
7 Regulators and Robber Barons: How Government Regulation Protects the Big Guys and Rips Off the Little Guys	111	(22)
8 The War against Tobacco: Why Phillip Morris is Leading It	133	(22)
9 You Get Taxed, They Get Rich: Why Big Business Loves High Taxes	155	(18)
PART IV GREEN: THE COLOR OF MONEY	173	(70)
10 Environmentalism for Profit: How Bad Environmentalist Laws Give Your Money to Big Business	177	(18)
11 Enron: A Big-Government Scandal	195	(28)
12 Ethanol and Archer Daniels Midland: Corporate Moonshiners on the Dole	223	(20)
Notes	243	(24)
Index	267