Free lunch : how the wealthiest Americans enrich themselves at government expense (and stick you with the bill) David Cay Johnston.

leisurereading.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- ch. 1. Without even asking -- ch. 2. Mr. Reagan's question -- ch. 3. Trust and consequences -- ch. 4. Chinese magnetism -- ch. 5. Seizing the commons -- ch. 6. Pride and profits -- ch. 7. Your land is my land -- ch. 8. Bounty hunters -- ch. 9. Goin' fishin' -- ch. 10. Just say no -- ch. 11. Beauty and the bounty -- ch. 12. False alarm -- ch. 13. Home robbery -- ch. 14. Indentured scholars -- ch. 15. Selling the furniture -- ch. 16. Suffer the little children -- ch. 17. Trojan horse -- ch. 18. Sightless sheriffs -- ch. 19. Paying twice -- ch. 20. Rising snow -- ch. 21. Unhealthy economics -- ch. 22. Less for more -- ch. 23. Hooked on drugs -- ch. 24. "I'm being trapped" -- ch. 25. None dare call it stealing -- ch. 26. Not since Hoover -- Conclusions : What to do? -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index.

How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? This book answers this great economic question, revealing how today's government policies and spending benefit the wealthy. Johnston shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect--thwarting competition, depressing wages, and rewarding misconduct. Revelations include: how we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world; how homeowners' title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly; how our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses; how baseball team owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds. In these instances and more, Johnston shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent.--From publisher description.