John Stossel

I was already a fan of John Stossel's TV segments, now I can say the same about his writing. This is pretty much a collection of stories he's done for television. Well researched and put together as his work always is, and quite honest when revealing how he blindly fell for many of the thoughts and ideas exposed in the book.

A word of caution... if you are in love with your ideals and way of thinking about many items in today's culture, don't read this book. He just might challenge you to show more re-evaluate them. show less

I like Stossel. He doesn't take any guff and he doesn't give a damn. He takes on many conventional wisdoms here and he does a fine job. These are outgrowths of his 20/20 segments and often contain revealing snippets of interviews. The endnotes refer back to specific pages and contain references to primary and secondary sources, often to the 20/20 website itself, which contains a "living" bibliography. Neat idea, though, in all fairness to any readers of this review, I hate the idea. I do show more wish this was a bit more rigorous, i.e. scholarly, but what can I expect. I do wish Stossel would write an entire book on the made-up health care "crisis." Recommended for kicks. show less

John Stossel is clearly a Libertarian, and has the same philosophical leanings as Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Napolitano. If that kind of thinking is to your liking, then you will enjoy this book. If not, you will likely wonder how people can have such radical thinking.

I enjoyed it and found many facts that were new to me. Our government seems so out of control in both its spending habits and in departures from its Constitutional role. Stossel re-confirms this many times over. He does not hold show more out much hope for solution, but does conclude the book with a list of budget cuts that he would like to see happen, and which would possibly return us to a sound monetary footing.

The libertarians are terrific at pinpointing the issues we face. The Tea Party types are terrific at acknowledging that something must be done, and backing candidates who will make the right kind of noises when elected.

My view is that there can be no real political solution because Americans as a whole are nowhere near being prepared for the medicine needed. Thus any politician who seriously advances the needed changes will be ostracized and labeled a Dunce both by their colleagues as well as the American public. Neutered is a good word. Imagine Ron Paul as President…he would have zero impact because no one would support his policies.

Solution, if one is actually available cannot become available until the crisis grows much much worse. Only then will politicians have the capability of claiming the needed cuts AND being believed.

And I believe the crisis will indeed become much worse. Likely events to unfold: a collapse of housing prices, much worse than today; rampant inflation caused by the huge spending run-ups of the last 2 decades; a possible default by the government on its debts; a collapse in the value of the dollar; a loss of confidence by foreign investors; very high interest rates that make borrowing out of reach for many, perhaps most.

Once those events unfold, only then will politicians have the needed cover to implement things like massive cuts in military spending, elimination of Departments of Energy, Education, HUD and the SBA, to name a few. Only then can entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare be radically pared down to balance the outflows with the inflows.

The final chapter in Stossel's book ends with a subchapter he calls “Running Out of Time”. That perhaps should be the title of his next book. We are about there. Americans and their representatives live in denial. We have now reached that point where we can prepare for the looming economic Armageddon ahead. How much time remains is unknown, but those among us who are believers, we could sure use some guidance on preparing for that new era.

Hopefully, I’m dead wrong about all this outcome. I don’t think so. Stossel I’m sure would not bet against me. show less

Based on input from others, I expected NOT to like this book, but that wasn't the case. I can't say everything Stossel talked about was new and earthshaking, or that I bought into everything he said, but there was more than enough I did agree with. For example, I'm not a bottled water drinker, so when he says that tap water is every bit as good, if not better, than bottled water, it's no news to me. And I believe the Country is lawsuit crazy, so when he talks about how medical liability show more cases like some John Edwards is so proud to have won actually have negative consequences for the rest of society, in terms of new product development, driving good doctors out of the profession, or increasing health costs unnecessarily, I'm pretty much in agreement. He just goes over many other examples, many of which you will agree with, others you may not, but it's mostly common sense and makes for good discussion around the dinner table. show less