About this title: John Stossel, the progenitor of the "in your face" style of consumer advocacy on television news, turns his investigative eye on the Federal Government, discussing incompetencies in the FDA and other agencies. Stossel traces his rise from cub reporter to 20/20 co-anchor, and along the way his realization that defending the "little guy" by going ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 02/2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 294 p. Contains: Illustrations. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 02/2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 294 p. Contains: Illustrations. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very good condition w/ clean pages. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 294 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2004-02-01
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Very Good. Text in excellent condition. No dust jacket. A quarter size scuff mark(3 or 4 light black marks) of some sort on front cover. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. First Edition. 1st edition. Used hardcover with dust jacket. Both are in very good condition with no flaws to report. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Good. Good Condition. Reasonable wear-still very useable. Interior may have markings. May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. No Dust Jacket. Prior owner's name inside. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Acceptable. Fair Condition. Considerable wear, but still very useable. Text appears free of marks, writing, and highlighting. May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. No Dust Jacket. Book has small open cut on top of spine. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Good. Good Condition. Reasonable wear-still very useable. Text appears free of marks, writing, and highlighting. May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. No Dust Jacket. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2004-02-01
ISBN-13:9780060529147ISBN:0060529148
Description: Very Good. Dust Jacket. *First Edition*Excellent book, spine tight and straight with very clean unmarked pages. Reliable and accurate service. read more
"This one really raised my libertarian hackles. Stossel breaks down the spectacular incompetence of government into short, easy chapters. Recommended for those looking for a good rant, and even more ammunition to belittle acquaintances of the liberal persuasion."
"One of the best, if not the BEST books I have EVER heard (audio) or read (hard or soft cover) This man makes absolute sense in today's confusing and treacherous society!"
"This book is just like his 20/20 specials. Stossel's message is well-illustrated with lots of stories. He skewers those on the political left (e.g. Ralph Nader and Democrats) and sometimes the right as well (Donald Trump and big corporations). It's very much a libertarian take in favor of free markets and limited government, and I'm inclined to agree with many of his points. But I'd love to hear an articulate response from another viewpoint. In any case, even if you disagree with his arguments, the material is thought provoking.
I've come to believe that American society is like a drunkard riding a horse. In some seasons, we fall off one side of the horse in favor of free markets and deregulation. Then there are abuses of the system (e.g., the 1929 stock market crash or the recent sub-prime mortgage debacle), and we fall off the other side in favor of more government intervention and regulation. May God grant us wisdom to find the golden mean between government regulation and free markets.
I fear that sometimes Stossel's measuring rod is based solely on costs, i.e., free markets are good because they keep the prices down. But cost isn't the only measuring rod. Sometimes the government, because it doesn't have to concern itself with making a profit, can promote social goods that don't make economic sense. Take for example NIH's desire to do research and develop treatments for diseases that are rare, such as progeria, or diseases that afflict populations outside the U.S. For-profit companies typically won't do that kind of work because there's not enough of a profit incentive.
Also, while Stossel points out many of the unintended bad consequences caused by government regulation, it's an interesting thought experiment to ponder all the disasters that were prevented because of government regulation. Because these are all hypothetical, there are no dramatic stories to air about government graft.
Another point to ponder is that limited government is needed because as Dan Ariely and behavioral economists have shown us, people are predictably irrational. We make all kinds of predictably irrational mistakes that call into question our ability to control our own decision making. For example, we predictably make irrational decisions, fall prey to "influence" techniques, make decisions based on how questions are worded, etc. Government regulation helps to police this area and protect us.
All of this leads me to conclude that we need to test our policies. We all have intuitions about how things work or should work, but our intuitions are often wrong. So the most sensible approach is to do a test run of different policies (perhaps in different regions), determine their measurable effects, and then evaluate the results in order to choose the policy with the most desirable outcomes. The book Supercrunchers by Ian Ayres makes a good case for this approach."
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