Author picture

Martin L. Gross (1925–2013)

Author of The Government Racket

89 Works 798 Members 5 Reviews

About the Author

Martin L. Gross is the New York Times bestselling author of The Government Racket, A Call for Revolution, and The Tax Racket, as well as The End of Sanity, The Brain Watchers, The Doctors, and The Psychological Society. He is the recipient of the NEA's School Bell Award, and has been a faculty show more member of the New School for Social Research and an adjunct associate professor of Social Science at New York University. He lives and works in Connecticut. show less

Includes the names: Martin Gross, Martin L. Gross

Series

Works by Martin L. Gross

The Government Racket (1992) 126 copies
Call for Revolution (1993) 80 copies
The Red President (1986) 54 copies
Tax Racket (1995) 38 copies
Political Racket (1996) 32 copies
Man of Destiny (1997) 26 copies
The Great Whitewater Fiasco (1994) 25 copies
The Brain Watchers (1962) 21 copies
The Red Defector (1991) 16 copies
Red Swastika (1992) 14 copies
The Doctors (1966) 11 copies
Medical Racket (1998) 10 copies
Fourth House (1993) 9 copies
El Presidente Rojo (1989) 3 copies
Les psychocrates (1979) 1 copy
BOOK DIGEST MAGAZINE MAY 1980 (1980) — Editor — 1 copy
365 Facts 1 copy

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Gross, Martin L.
Legal name
Gross, Martin Louis
Birthdate
1925
Date of death
2013-08-21
Gender
male
Nationality
USA

Members

Reviews

Seriously dated now, having been written in the early 1960s, but still a fascinating, funny, and alarming look at the early days of psychological testing and profiling. Brain Watchers takes a hard, skeptical look at the claims and procedures, especially as those tests were used in the business world. Given that business and education are still latching on to the latest miracle method, without real critical examination, the book is worth reading.
 
Flagged
bmlg | Jul 24, 2011 |
The Federal Government is the worst example of how to run a business (and make money). I got this book thinking I would be enlightened by all the Government programs that were ridiculous or wasteful. It was all this and so much more. It does point out a lot of silly programs that waste money, but in the grand scheme of the budget it's a bit more than a drop in the bucket.

The author is truely bi-partisan. He points out how there really isn't a surplus, how the government can make much more money on it's own and thus enable taxes to be lower. Speaking of taxes, he favors the National Sales Tax and justifies why this is the only fair and practical way to go. His solution to lowering the welfare budget is to give each person who, by our laws is considered poor (7.7 million), enough money to be above the poverty line. In one swoop, we will have no more poor people and it will cost less than the yearly welfare budget.

The big waste of money comes from the gross mis-management of programs and agencies. The author points out numerous cases of
- multiple programs covering the same subject spread out over several agencies.
- Horrible management of programs that lose the government millions (and billions) of dollars.
- Outdated programs that were useful 50 years ago, but serve no purpose today, other than to waste tax money.
- Massive number of perks allocated to Congress that include overstaffing and other spending luxuries.
With every instance of waste or mis-management the author gives his solution to the problem, complete with the amount of money that would be saved.

The second part of the book updates people on the waste he brought up in his first book The Government Racket: Washington Waste From A to Z, which was written in 1993. Some perks and programs were changed or removed. Others were left alone to continue wasting tax dollars.

The third part of the book discusses how he would restructure the Federal Government. This mostly centers around the Cabinet and the consolidation and/or removal of agencies and programs.

I would rank this book high on my list of books for anyone wanting to know what is really wrong with our Federal Government, and why the spending has gone through the roof.

After reading this book, you will be so disgusted with politicians (Democrats and Republicans) that you'll want to take a firehose and wash away all the Washington sludge.
… (more)
 
Flagged
kkirkhoff | Jul 20, 2006 |
This book was written in 1993 and deals with various aspects of Washington that are hindering the good old U S of A. Most of the topics he touches on center around taxes, lobbyists, useless agencies, budgets, and bureaucracies.

All in all it was an interesting book even though his writing style makes him sound a tad angry. Unfortunately, I read Government Racket 2000 before I read this one. That book says a lot of what he said here. In fact, I'd swear that text was directly copied into the GR2000 book. I wish this book was something a bit different from the GR2000.

If I had to recommend a book, read The Government Racket 2000. It's more modern and he gets his point across without the anger.
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
kkirkhoff | Jul 20, 2006 |
This is the only book that has made me want to run for public office. The IRS and Congress's motto should be:

If it moves, tax it.
If it doesn't move, tax it.
It it doesn't fit in either catagory, tax it.

This book was an eye-opening look inside the IRS, our tax system, and the Federal Government's dependency on it. It's simply amazing the things that are taxed. The author discusses in depth the history behind many of these taxes and why they are either outdated or just plain ridiculous.

In the end he offers his solution, which is found in all his other government-based books. Nuke the IRS, repeal the sixteenth amendment, and institute a National Sales Tax. He also suggests ways of streamlining the government, closing agencies and departments that serve no purpose. These include the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Education, Rural Electrification Administration, Interstate Commerce Commision, Helium Reserve, Essential Air, and the Small Business Administration (which has an enormous loan default rate).

This is an excellent book. One warning...I guarantee after reading this book you will be so fed up with the IRS and our means of taxation and waste that you'll (hopefully) run for office just to clean it up.
… (more)
 
Flagged
kkirkhoff | Jul 20, 2006 |

Lists

You May Also Like

Statistics

Works
89
Members
798
Popularity
#31,948
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
5
ISBNs
50
Languages
4

Charts & Graphs