Product Description

The runaway New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and USA Today bestseller!

The facts

At least 50 of the 425 terrorists released from GuantÁnamo have returned to the battlefield to fight our troops.

Barack Obama has called for $1 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years—and dressed them up as tax cuts!

Up to a quarter of all state pension funds in the United States are invested in companies that are helping Iran, Syria, North Korea, or the Sudan—for a total of nearly $200 billion.

Big business, big government, big labor, big lobbyists, and their self-serving agendas are doing nothing to help the ever-increasing number of American people who are losing their homes and their jobs.

In this hard-hitting call to arms, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann reveal the hundreds of ways American taxpayers are routinely fleeced—by our own government, by foreign countries, by Washington lobbying firms, by hedge-fund billionaires, and by the president himself—and offer practical agendas we all can follow to help turn the tide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8189 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-01
• Released on: 2009-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061547775
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

Dick Morris served as Bill Clinton's political consultant for twenty years. A regular political commentator on Fox News and other networks, he is the author of six New York Times bestsellers (all with Eileen McGann) and one Washington Post bestseller.

Customer Reviews

A Balanced Look at Ripoffs By Politicians, Corporations, Lobbyists, and Others
This is a well done expose of those who 'fleece' the citizenry in a number of ways.

In a book that has perhaps the longest subtitle ever, Dick Morris exposes those 'fleecers' including politicians on both sides of the political aisle, the media, big corporations, teachers' unions, and many more. As he is an equal opportunity basher, many readers will likely be offended in some way (he has examples of John McCain as well as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama).

Some of the better parts of the book include the following:

1. Barack Obama - Morris outlines many problematic areas with the self proclaimed 'the one'. One of the most important parts is showing all of Obama's tax plans. Morris' conclusion: 'Together, these proposals would be crippling to our economy.' He does a great job of showing exactly how that would be.

2. The Do-Nothing Congress - Morris shows just how 'grueling' the work schedule is for our elected representatives. He documents how 'in the entire year 2007, the House of Representatives worked only three five-day workweeks.' That is just the tip of the iceberg for this group of slackers. He does a great job of showing a great many of their dubious 'accomplishments', which are laughable to say the least. He also makes a great point about how John McCain, Barack Obama, and others who have run for president have essentially taken anywhere from a few months to a couple of years off of this cushy job to run for president, skipped numerous votes, but still collect their paychecks. As he says, 'They're not doing their job. But they're all still getting paid -$165,000 a year! - for doing nothing.'

3. The plastic fleece - He shows numerous scams that the credit card companies do to rip off their customers. He goes through eleven ways that these corporations use to essentially steal. Although this would have been considered usury at one time, they are free to gouge people in some very disgusting ways.

There are several others. I will forego further examples. Suffice it to say that there are many appalling ways that companies, government entities and others are gouging people. Morris has some solutions that, if implemented by large numbers of readers, could make a big difference.

I would strongly recommend this book.

I wanted to like this book but whoever did his research sure
didn't know what he was talking about.

I have watched Dick Morris for years and like the way he analyzes politics but he sure doesn't know anything about the stock market and the mortgage mess.

I got the feeling I was reading a bunch of off the wall bull when in Chapter 8 he calls Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank "courageous and heroic" in taking on the banks for their .... ATM Fees!!!

When he gets to the chapter on the Sub Prime Mortgage mess he never mention those two buffoons who should be duck walked into the nearest prison for what they did... taking money from bankrupt mortgage companies "Wamu" and putting gay lovers in charge of affordable housing at Fannie Mae. Instead he blames Loan Officers for writing bad loans to people the Congress and President Clinton forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make loans to.

Don't believe me... Google "Affordable Housing Initiatives" and see for yourself.

I stopped reading at this point... no reason to fill my head with a lot of inaccurate rantings from Mr. Morris.

Better than Expected
Fleeced was a surprisingly good book. I have not read Morris before but own his counter-spin analysis of Hillary's history (I'll get to it someday). You should know, up front, that Fleeced is improperly grouped with the Obama books but only the initial 40 pages or so concern him. After that Fleeced addresses a panoply of issues. The narrative and its subject matter are straight up populism. Morris has always had a populist edge to him and is more of a Republican than a conservative in my view. That being said, most of his observations are legitimate. Valid points are made concerning the futility of releasing the Guantanamo prisoners ad hoc, the way credit cards scam us with a myriad of fees and cloaked charges, the anti-work ethic of senators and Congressmen, and the nature of the subprime loan crisis. The book could have been 50 pages shorter though as there are innumerable lists included that probably don't need to be here. Apart from that, Morris and wife exceeded my expectations.