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Title: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization and High-Finance Fraudsters by Greg Palast ISBN: 0-452-28391-4 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (121 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Should be mandatory reading for all Americans.
Comment: Ok, all Britons too.
Not only is Palast an excellent investigative reporter, he is a good writer as well. As you travel the backwaters of corporate shell-games, globalization disasters, and politicians that seemingly have never known shame...you find yourself asking, "Why didn't the mainstream press cover this?"
And that is one of the most important reasons to read this tightly-knit, well-crafted collection of exposés.
Good work, Greg.
Rating: 5
Summary: Truth Supported By Evidence
Comment: In "The Best Money Democracy Can Buy" one can get quality information outside of the corporate media conglomerates. The author does back up what he writes very well with good research. It's important to hear a voice that is not within the mainstream media today. Unfortunately there is little alternative to the generic corporate electronic and print media in the modern U.S. This has an effect on the way the masses think, perceive, and hold opinion.
As for the gist of this book, there are numerous examples in our lives that reveal the fact that money, power, and influence go hand in hand. The author chose particular examples supported by investigative research and corroboration.
First, the United States is not a democracy. The military-industrial complex, electoral college system, Political Action Committees (PACs), soft money, and corporations, shape public policy and control the United States political system at the federal level. Political policies of the states are less influenced by the above mentioned special interests, but they are following the similar path of the Federal government. This encroaching anti-democratic corporate-military dominance has been increasing significantly since the end of WWII. President Eisenhower, the former general, was the first to warn of the "growing emergence of the military-industrial complex" in the 1950s. And today in 2003, how right he was.
One misconception that most Americans have, thanks to American media propaganda, (major networks, cnn, etc.) is that markets promote democracy. There are some correlations between free market economies and democratic societies. There are also many correlations of free market economies and autocratic dictatorships, and oligarchies.
There are some examples of the abuse of power that the author chose to elucidate that may not be to everyone's liking. Apparently, Palast thinks convicted felons--if they are black--should be allowed to vote in elections. (Perhaps because nine out of ten of them vote for Democrats might be the reason Mr. Palast thinks this way.) Jeb Bush did the right thing in Florida by having felons excluded from the polls. All felons of every background, should be kept from voting.
Palast notes the old news of how Clinton and Bush both instructed the FBI and other officials investigating terrorist links to the Saudi government not pursue their investigations further, basically turning a blind eye. It would cause embarrassment, ruffle feathers, and stir up discontent. the editing in this book, like many today, is poor.
The WTO, the tool of wealthy nations to more efficiently exploit poorer nations (in the name of the misnomer of free trade) is examined and more facts of this organization's policies are presented. The World Bank, which benefits only a few, has also done a thorough job of destroying nations' economies, and lowering the value of their currencies from Argentina to Australia.
Palast speaks clearly and concisely. His arguments are cogent, sound, and backed-up. I hope he continues to give us, the ignoramus masses, an alternative to the terribly bland and generic sources of distorted and biased information we Americans are constantly inundated with. Read this book, and it will open your eyes if you're new, or reinforce what individualistic common sense you already have.
Rating: 5
Summary: The most IMPORTANT book you'll ever read...
Comment: OK, we have all seen the "Save the Children" commercials on TV, we see the dire poverty people all over the world live in, and we say to ourselves "gosh, I wish there was something I could do..." And we try to reason why the people in these countries live in such poverty, "Well, their government must be corrupt" or "People over there just don't know how to run things".
What if I told you that the United States and a handful of industrialized European Nations set up these countries for failure just to earn huge profits (think IMF and World Bank). What if I told you that from 1960-1980 per capita income grew 73% in South America and 34% in Africa when their governments were running things, and that since 1980 (because of the IMF/World Bank/the Reagan model and so many other reasons explained in depth in this book) South America has experienced no growth and African incomes have declined by 23%.
Excerpt from book:
"Take Tanzania. Today in that African state, 1.3 million people are getting ready to die of AIDS. The IMF and World Bank have come to the rescue... require Tanzania to charge for what were previously free hospital appointments. Since the bank imposed this requirement, the number of patients treated in Dar es Salaam's three big public hospitals have dropped by 53 percent. The Bank's cure is working!" (p. 149)
The IMF and World Bank condemn people and countries to death, and not just abroad... You have to read this book... It will make you so sick to your stomach that you'll want to kill all the guys in the IMF/World bank with your bare hands, and...
Remember all those young activists you saw on TV protesting outside of all IMF/World Bank meetings held in posh hotels? Well, after reading this book I guarantee you'll want to join those guys.
Save the world and its people, BAN THE IMF/WORLD BANK (and tell everyone to pick up this book, it's the truth).
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Title: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken ISBN: 0525947647 Publisher: Dutton Books Pub. Date: 29 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country--And It's Time to Take It Back by Jim Hightower ISBN: 0670031410 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore ISBN: 0446532231 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush's America by MOLLY IVINS, LOU DUBOSE ISBN: 0375507523 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman ISBN: 0393058506 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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