The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy: And Everything Else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know about Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America

by Joshua Holland

Overview

AlterNet editor Joshua Holland demolishes the Right's biggest and most outrageous myths about the economy

Taxes kill growth. Labor unions hurt their members. Government regulation destroys jobs. These are just a few of the biggest lies in the web of misinformation spun by conservatives and the Chamber of Commerce. Holland's book dissects each malicious fiction to show how the Right is just plain wrong on the economy—wrong on jobs, wrong on the deficit, wrong on taxes, wrong on trade.

• Takes down old and new conservative myths about the economy, including healthcare, stimulus, progressive taxes, Wall Street regulation, and more
• Filled with recent quotes from conservative politicians and pundits, from the misleading to the laughable to the totally outrageous
• Tackles specific aspects of the Republicans' economic agenda, including their 2010 alternatives to Obama's budget
• Deftly written and rigorously documented by Alternet senior writer/editor Joshua Holland

With the economy set to be the driving issue before and after the 2010 midterm elections, The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy sets the record straight on every part of the conservatives' economic agenda.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470912829
Publisher:	Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/23/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	859 KB

About the Author

Joshua Holland is a senior writer and editor at AlterNet, responsible for coverage of the economy, globalization, and immigration. AlterNet is a highly trafficked news portal with a readership of over two million visitors per month.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

How our conventional wisdom fails us.

A Closer Look: "This Modern World" by Tom Tomorrow.

1. Conservatives Don't Want Good Government.

Don't believe that limited government means anything would be better for you, personally.

A Closer Look: Is Big Business Passing Itself Off as "Small Business"?

2. It's Not Your Fault There Aren’t Enough Good Jobs.

Don't believe America is still the land of opportunity.

A Closer Look: Is the Value of Education Declining?

3. There Is No Free Market.

Don't believe that modern markets exist without government.

A Closer Look: "Troubletown: Fanning the Flames of Class Warfare" by Lloyd Dangle.

4. How Could Anyone Believe the Big Banks Are Victims?

Don't believe that the housing crisis was caused by poor people.

A Closer Look: Were the Titans of Finance Really Too Big to Fail?

5. Tax Cuts Aren't a Solution to Every Problem.

Don't believe the conservatives' magic bullet for economic woes.

A Closer Look: No, Tax Cuts Don’t Always Generate Jobs and Prosperity.

6. Republicans Have Never Cared about the Deficit.

Don't believe there's a budget apocalypse just over the horizon.

A Closer Look: How More Government (of One Sort) Brings Greater Individual Liberty and Personal Choice.

7. America Has No Respect for Family Values.

Don't believe that women choose motherhood over work (or vice versa).

A Closer Look: The Myth of the Pipeline: Why Women Aren't Poised to Shatter the Glass Ceiling.

8. Our Health-Care System Is a Huge Rip-Off.

Don't believe we have the greatest health care in the world a closer look: The Health-Care Economy.

9. Obama Is Not a Socialist.

Don't believe that those poor, oppressed corporations need saving.

A Closer Look: "Corporate America Had a Dream, Too" by Matt Bors.

10. Green Jobs Are a Great Idea.

Don't believe that environmental activists want to ruin the economy

A Closer Look: Why a Gallon of Gas Should Cost $10.

11. The Europeans Are All Right.

Don't believe that more progressive governments are always on the brink of bankruptcy.

A Closer Look: The Incredible Shrinking Americans.

12. "Illegal" Immigration Isn’t Hurting Your Prospects.

Don't believe that a border-crossing Mexican stole your job.

A Closer Look: The Real Costs of Stupid Immigration Laws.

13. Blacks Still Kept Back 216

Don't believe the U.S. economy is a postracial meritocracy.

A Closer Look: The African American Economy, Before and After the Crash.

14. Unions Still Matter.

Don't believe organized labor is corrupt, lazy, and an artifact of a different age.

A Closer Look: Whither the $20-an-Hour Wage?

15. There's Nothing Free about Free Trade.

Don't believe that corporations want fewer rules and everyone else is an isolationist Luddite

A Closer Look: Corporate America Says You Can't Have a Green Economy.

Notes.

Index.