Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses

by Timothy P. Carney

Book Overview

Obama Is Making You Poorer--But Who's Getting Rich? Goldman Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the United Auto Workers--the same "special interests" Barack Obama was supposed to chase from the temple--are profiting... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596986123
• ISBN13: 9781596986121
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Eye Opening Exposure of Closed Door Politics

You know the big business influence is there, but this book really brings it home with great detail, facts and analysis. It is depressing because you realize the extent and depth the money plays in Washington... and the only way to check its growth is to shrink government and take the power back to the people through federalism. Great book, a must read.

Business as Usual in Washington, DC

Corporate America's PAC money has been controlling the political power brokers in Washington, DC for decades; this is nothing new. The rhetoric that Barrack Obama used---that he was going to bring about "change" in America (now known as ObamaNation)---got him elected, and to this point, much of America is still being fooled by that rhetoric; especially since a liberal media is giving him a free pass on just about anything he does. Timothy P Carney has compiled a remarkably comprehensive piece of investigative reporting, and after the dust has settled, the reader will come away knowing that our new president is as clever as any sleazy politician ever; his image of standing up against the big corporations, while promoting the cause of the "little guys" is about to be tested with the facts that Carney has gathered. His effort is monumental, and well documented; and for Barrack Obama, this is more evidence of corruption that any American should be outraged by; this time, there's not enough rhetoric to cover up the simple truth. It's business as usual in Washington, DC; and the fat cats of corporate America are only getting fatter, and more corrupt. The details are right here in this book.

Obamanomics - a MUST READ

The fact that this book is getting little attention in the media demonstrates one of the points in this book - the big media is owned by the same corporations that are using the federal government to control the business environment and thereby improve their own profits at the expense of the rest of the country. This book is not just about the Obama administration - it is really an expose on how the giant corporations and banks are controlling our government for their own selfish gain. Obama is really just accelerating the same agenda that has been occurring for many years. This book contains no histrionics or speculation. It is carefully researched and documented. Do us all a favor - read this book and then spread the word. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that this is the most important book written on politics in recent times.

An indispensable book from an indispensable reporter

No joke: this is best book about how Washington really works you will see this year. It's probably the best since Carney's last effort, The Big Ripoff. If you want the inside story on how policy is made, you cannot ask the politicians, or the lobbyists, or the labor bosses, or the big businessmen. They have every incentive to lie, or at least, to spin you. Every reporter in Washington knows that the best stories are about what happens before and after, not during, the press conference. What company hires what political aides to lobby what subcommittee chairman to get their little earmark, their cherry-picked amendment, or their bailout? For years now, in his regular columns and two excellent books, Carney has been doing real time, serious investigative journalism at this nexus of policy making, big business, and interest-group knife-fighting. In Obamanomics, Carney follows the money -- special interest groups to campaign committees to bailed out boardrooms. You'll see who is leading the seemingly noble campaigns for green energy, health care reform, and financial regulations... and how those same people are coincidentally positioned to make billions off of the policy changes they themselves have written. Obamanomics has the substance for a policy wonk, but is written as a fast and entertaining read for the layman -- more like an episodic novel than a policy paper. The Becks and Olmbermanns have their place in the national dialogue, but Tim Carney's work is not punditry: it's old school shoe leather journalism. I have three copies already -- one for me, and two already wrapped as Christmas gifts. It will probably serve as my go-to present for politically-minded friends for the next few years, too. Obamanomics is everything you (don't want to know but) need to know about how Washington works in the age of Obama. It is, quite simply, an indispensable book from Washington's one indispensable reporter.

A Primer on Rhetoric v. Reality

"Obamanomics" is the title of two books on the economic platform of the Obama administration. Apparently the phrase has a nice catch to publishers. But in the hands of Timothy Carney, author of this book, "Obamanomics" is shorthand for corporatism; the use of big government regulations to support corporate profits. This, of course, is not how most commentators see the new administration. They accept the rhetoric that this administration is promoting change by putting the interests of ordinary citizens ahead of corporate lobbyists. As this important book reveals, nothing could be further from the truth. During his campaign for president, Obama carefully crafted a message of change. A repeated theme of the campaign was that big business had too much power in the Bush administration and his own administration would strictly regulate lobbyists and their corporate sponsors. Throughout the election, the Obama campaign successfully portrayed John McCain as a representative of "Big Business" while suggesting that Obama was funded by donations from average Americans. This myth is still believed by many Americans today. Throughout the book, however, Carney shows how fundamentally wrong this conception is. Obama received far more money from big pharmaceutical companies, like Pfizer, from big oil, like Exxon Mobil, from GE and Goldman Sachs, than McCain. Indeed, he received more than any other candidate for President in history. Carney carefully details the money spent on Obama industry by industry and in subsequent chapters describes just what all this money bought. In general, popular mythology notwithstanding, large corporations routinely benefit from government regulation. Carney details several ways this can happen. Government contracts and direct subsidies are of course enormously profitable, but other effects of regulation are less obvious. One of the least obvious ways is that regulatory costs protect large corporations from competition. Consider for example the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. This bill proposes to limit greenhouse gas emissions by giving away carbon credits to industry and then letting markets decide how to price and trade those credits. Conveniently enough, the bill will simply give away credits worth 51 billion dollars to established corporations like GE, Exxon, and Chevron. But new businesses, hoping to compete with these giants, will have to purchase the credits. Barriers to entry are essential to a monopoly and markets don't readily provide these. But governments do, and so it is no wonder that as the size of the federal government has expanded, so too has the influence of corporate lobbyists who stand the most to gain under the policies of the Obama adminstration. One of the key points in the book is that none of this has anything to do with Obama's intentions. Obama may well believe his own rhetoric. He may think (or hope) that he is representing the little guy against the power of professional lo