National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying the American Dream from A to Z by Martin L. Gross

Product Details

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling author of The Government Racket is back with a scathing indictment of government waste.

The government of the United States is a juggernaut of mismanagement, malfeasance and incompetence. Despite the strong foundation laid down by the founding fathers, it is headed to extinction.

From the Alternative Minimum Tax to Zip Codes, New York Times bestselling author Martin L. Gross outlines the programs that have exploded financially, the laws that had completely unintended consequences, and the scams perpetrated by legislators intent upon remaining in office no matter what the cost to the nation-and its citizens.

Publishers Weekly

Gross (The Government Racket) ticks off how villainous politicians have transformed America into a “humiliated debtor nation” in a fiery A–Z compendium of government greed, chicanery and plain incompetence. Gross enjoys a good rant, but his criticisms are sound and well-supported. With next year's deficit estimated to be $1.4 trillion, he pleads for the urgent streamlining of Washington's bloated bureaucracies: there are dozens of overlapping agencies in charge of education, job training, and rural and farm programs; to consolidate some and eliminate others could save billions of dollars that could be put toward balancing the federal budget. Eliminating archaic and unfair taxes would make the tax code more uniform and boost the middle class; Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are in trouble and merely cracking down on fraud would save big money. Reining in pork, lobbyists, immigration rates and extravagant federal-employee perks would save even more. The only dark cloud on the horizon is, as Gross admits, the implementation of these policies, given his conviction that the U.S. federal government is “the most dysfunctional central operation in the developed world.” (Sept.)

Biography

Martin L. Gross is a journalist, social scientist, and author of The Government Racket and A Call for Revolution. He has appeared on national televisions shows including Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and 20/20.