National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying the American Dream from A to Z
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Author: Martin L. Gross
- Publisher: Berkley Trade
- Release Date: September 2009
- ISBN-10: 0425231372
- ISBN-13: 9780425231371
- List Price: $15.00
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
Summary The New York Times bestselling author of The Government Racket is back with a scathing indictment of government waste. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Mostly good, just a few skewed facts
Rating: 
For the most part this book serves it's purpose, and that is to wake America up to the wasteful system we have in place we call our federal government. It is for the most part bipartisan and honest. Most people have covered the positives so I'll point out some negatives.
The author really doesn't understand the technology involved and the corporate influence controlling our energy policy. He recommends tapping into oil reserves in Alaska simply because it is there and can bring down costs for all of us, but fails to mention how much oil we actually use in a day making the Alaskan reserves nowhere near enough to fill our hungry gas tanks. He also ignores the main reason for shifting away from oil which is it's effect on the environment and our health. He clearly knows how much healthcare costs, so it makes sense to stop poisoning ourselves and the environment we live in. He could have pointed out the endless possibilities with wind, hydroelectric, and the way coal and oil companies use our politicians to block progress in those areas, but chose not to.
Another big problem is the attack on the Chinese, when in fact we love that the Chinese PEG their currency to the dollar allowing us to keep buying container ship after ship of their products. The instant that stops we'll actually have to start making things ourselves, doing work ourselves instead of borrowing money to buy the products of others hard work. While China may not treat their employees well, Americans certainly love it for the time being.
Lastly it seems the author has a deep love for Ronald Reagan. For some reason a number of times he skews facts to make Reagan appear as though he was a champion of the middle class. He says the middle class should consider him a hero since he dropped the marginal tax rate to 27%, what he fails to mention is that Reagan raised the payroll tax on Americans more than any other president effectively raising taxes an enormous amount on the middle class. He also likes to blame other presidents for what happens during their terms while he gives Reagan credit for what others did and blames others for the awful things Reagan did. It just detracts from the book somewhat to hear this.
Overall the book is very informative. It's not fun to read I must say due to the fact that it involves a number of examples over and over again proving the same point that our federal government needs a complete overhaul, redesigned down to the core.
Timely and news worthy
Rating:
I try not to read books on government because they're mostly one sided. However, after a friend recommended this one it was a must read. Not only for me but for every working class American in this country. This book is a fine example of how our government has been screwing the American taxpayer for years and continues to! Both sides of the aisle. I also see how this government has let us Americans down and there is no oversight on how much money they spend without thought as to who is going to pay for their programs and projects for many years to come. Even the "Cap and trade" is written about. As the old saying goes "It's always fun spending other peoples money!".
Sure there are some things that you can argue about the authors thoughts but you have to admit, he has good insight and if anyone had any better ideas maybe they'd be president!
Roadmap to the Survival of Freedom
Rating:
A brilliantly written book on US government incompetence. The only book I've ever read that actually makes me want to campaign for commander in chief just so I can appoint the author as Inspector General of the US.
Stop this train, I want to get off
Rating:
"National Suicide" begins with a 50-page essay in the vein that this country has been on the road to ruin since the presidency of Harry Truman, follows with 44 essays on various specific problems, and ends with a note to a current president on "how to better govern America."
It seems that we need to reorganize the government from top to bottom, reduce federal expenditures by about one-third, cut taxes, eliminate the alternative minimum tax, get over the nonsense about taxing carbon emissions, recruit better teachers for U.S. schools, and reverse the influx of illegal immigrants, among other things. "There is no other course if we are to save America from national suicide."
As an inventory of national problems, this book represents a good effort. Many of the points may be familiar, but most readers will learn some things. In my own case, for example, I had never realized and/or reflected on (a) how the federal government came to own so much of the land in Western states, (b) the possible benefits of requiring future teachers to study anything but "education" in college, (c) how Connecticut cut local government overhead by abolishing all counties in the state, and (d) the downside of having so many states use caucuses (often with very limited participation) in their presidential primaries.
But I disagree with some of the author's suggestions, such as (1) imposing a retaliatory tax on Chinese imports that could spark a global trade war (it would make far more sense to help U.S. manufacturers by cutting the corporate tax rate and eliminating needless regulations), (2) having the federal government take over the U.S. school system, and (3) replacing the welfare programs he decries with cash grants on the assumption that this is how to eliminate poverty.
Additionally, the game plan for reform is superficial. No president could be expected to take the author's suggestions and run with them; they simply do not represent an actionable agenda. Furthermore, there would have to be buy-in from many people besides the president to get anything constructive done.
Awareness is a start, however, and this book may contribute in that respect. As stated in the introduction, it is dedicated to helping "the voters learn the truth about Washington" so they will "be able to think intelligently about a government that is robbing its citizens of their treasure, their personal confidence, and their self-respect."
As I understand it, the author came out of retirement to write this book - basically an update of "The Government Racket 2000: All New Washington Waste from A to Z" - because he felt the situation was continuing to deteriorate. Good for him!
Things have gotten worse
Rating:
We have read his book "Washington Waste from A to Z" and this current book explains How and Why things have gotten worse. It is one of those books that is so true that every few pages you throw the book against the wall. Why do we keep re-electing these *@#%***. Both parties are to blame. Please have Martin run as an independent and I will vote for him. We voted for Ross Perot because we felt that even if he was bucking the "establishment" he would be honest and call them a few dirty names. The answer to the current debacle is there is black and white/
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