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

One way to view this book is as a collection of many different ways and different sectors
in which those (individuals and corporations mostly, but also NGOs and non-profits, too)
with money and the power to influence our government at different levels use their power
and wealth to channel money to themselves and away from those with less power, especially
those who are less wealthy and less able to pay for organized political influence. It is
also possible to read this book looking for systemic features that infect any highly
organized society-government interaction. We can think of the capture of government by
the rich and powerful as an attractor or a stable state towards which all societies and
government drift as they become more advanced and more highly organized. Given this view,
a society that does not protect itself against such drift, against that kind of capture is
foolish.

And, given this view, it might be helpful to ask whether it is possible to identify and
describe the significant features of a society-government nexus that enables or
facilitates this trend toward capture by the rich and powerful. If we could list those
features, would they be avoidable? And, are there features that might protect us from
that advance toward and spiral into capture by the rich and powerful? If not, the only
alternative seems to be to wait until our condition is so bad and so extreme that some
sort of unstable state and cataclysmic change becomes inevitable. That would be a harsh
alternative, for that extreme condition and its aftermath are likely to be destructive and
unpleasant.

Is a drift toward taking from the many in order to give to the few an inevitable tendency
of any large, complex system? Perhaps not. But, that drift might be inevitable in any
system with the following conditions: (1) the system manages and redirects money (thus
providing a potential for profit); (2) the system can be influenced by money or by power
that can be obtained through money; (3) the system is complex enough so that the transfer
of wealth can be disguised, hidden, justified, etc; and (4) the system/government has
enforcement power (for example, the power to collect and require/force payment of taxes).
Johnston excells at reveiling these characteristics in our society and government and at
describing how they function.

In addition to taking from the many to give to the rich, we as a society are also making
it increasingly harder for those who start out poor to become well-off financially. As the
chapter on education and its costs reminds, as the distribution of income and wealth is
becoming ever more skewed in the U.S., also it is becoming more expensive to acquire the
education that might enable someone to rise above the income level into which they were
born. For all too many in our society who cannot afford private K-through-12 eduction,
our schools do not give the preparation needed for college. And, for so many of those
fortunate enough to become prepared, college is becoming increasingly unaffordable, as
public financial support for our state run colleges and universities shrinks.

Perhaps a more general lesson to be learned from this book is that if you create a system
that *can* be manipulated for profit, then it *will* be manipulated for profit. Where
unfair profits are potentially high enough, someone will figure out how to rig or game the
system so as to gain those profits.

There are several chapters on the Enron scandal and some of its negative effects. That's
a timely reminder (I'm writing this in 2011), because our more recent financial
catastrophe (the disaster surrounding housing, mortgage, securitization, CDS) clouds our
historical memory; it leads us to forget just how frequent these "market anomalies" are.
These are not rare, 100-year events. They are common. Operating on the belief that these
crises are rare, that we can ignore them, that someone else is likely to suffer the
consequences, but not our generation, is foolish. Wait five years or less and we, you and
I, will suffer the negative consequences. Provide enough incentive, create a system in
which the potential profits are high enough, and some will exploit that system and will
put that system in an unstable state in doing so. Therefore, if you have complex a system
that is not protected against capture by the rich and powerful, and we do, then "what you
see is what you get".

You will find sections in this book on: (1) how Wal-Mart and other large retailers use
government subsidies and shift their costs onto local communities; (2) public power
utilities (electric and gas) and how they maneuver the government and their financial
dealings; (3) the efforts of rail transportation companies to avoid regulation and
inspection; (4) the health care insurance industry in the U.S. and how it uses denial of
coverage, denial of care, and denial of payment to enhance its profits; (5) drugs and how
the U.S. Congress passed a bill to require payment of top prices for drugs while
prohibiting the negotiation for lower prices; (6) a discussion of hedge funds and the
financial industry that gives a preview of the recent financial sector melt-down; (7) the
increasing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. and its likely negative consequences.

It's not a pleasant picture that Johnston describes. But, remaining oblivious to it is
possibly the worst thing we can do.

Mr. Johnston provides an unmentioned 3rd perspective to the economic challenges of our time in this country. While some parts of the book have a liberal lean, overall, it is a refreshing new perspective that neither conservatives, nor liberals have discussed. Mr. Johnston points the accusing finger at BOTH sides of the political isle and demands accountability from a government that is too big, and spends too much... but does so in a way neither conservatives nor rank-and-file Democrats want to talk about. Mr. Johnston has even coined a word for it... "Corporate Socialism." It's a concept many of us may have suspected but few know about and even fewer dare to speak about... a concept that is an unspeakable to political elites of all stripes. But perhaps we have somehow known all along? The government that is too big does not have only the problem of "traditional socialist" activity, but also "corporate socialist" activity that goes on behind closed doors: Loopholes that allow the wealthy to pay no taxes, taxpayer money that covers the entirety of the profits of megacorporations that would not even break even if not for a constant bailout, CEOs using the company jet to go golfing on private islands using taxpayer money to pick up the bill, politicians being bought off with clearly illegal gifts that go unpunished. - Free Lunch indeed!
If you can read this book and not feel enraged and cheated - then you don't have a pulse.

TWO THUMBS WAAAAY UP!!

So the OWS protesters are right, thirty years of the wealthy buying the for sell influence of our own representatives.

This well-written book is hard to read because it's so upsetting to read about how corporations are getting away with murder at taxpayers expenses and how the wealthy also get off the hook and continue to line their pockets, again at our expense. Everyone should read this revealing book.

With all the GOP hype that attacks social subsides for the common good, this book helps to expose this fallacy with the different ways large companies lobby the government for subsidies, removing dollars from the public commons of the majority into the the private profits of the few. Very informative.

At first the book looks like a propaganda against capitalism and free market. But very soon you the author shows how Adam Smith's theory has been consistently abused by the rich people. All the crooks of this country have secured themselves behind the state and the same time they preach about capitalism and free markets. It really looks like the Soviet leaders who were abusing Marx's ideas to become rich while preaching socialism and communism. I think the book systematically and with great examples portraits how the "Great President of 80s" turned out to be the architect of the biggest theft in America. I have been living in US for 8 years and after reading that book I was shocked to find out how unfair and fragile the system is.

This author rambles on and on finding every possible way to say the same thing over and over. And what he says is the title of the book. He could have put all the FACTS he offers here, that support his thesis, into a 3-page pamphlet but instead he wrote a book. Another case of a formerly great journalist coasting on the reputation of his first book. I bought the book based on an interview with Johnston by Chris Hayes, who recommended "Free Lunch" strongly. Now I won't trust Hayes for book recommendations again.

Only purchased this book because it was required reading for a project. It is very informative, but discouraging and disheartening. Thought provoking for all Americans.

Good book!

I have seen this man speak and I have read his work. I am so glad that there are people who we can count on to expose what is really happening with our government and its capture by corporations and greedy, awful human beings. I cannot wait to read more of his investigate journalism.