America the Broke : How the Reckless Spending of The White House and Congress are Bankrupting OurCountry and Destroying Our Children's Future

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Summary: This book tells you what you can do help protect your future
Review: America the Broke is one of the most important books I have ever read. Its conclusions are very disturbing because they are founded on a detailed and systematic analysis of existing facts. Swanson's logic is irrefutable.

In clear, honest and straight-forward language Swanson shows how politicians in their hunger to be reelected have deceived you and me. They have run up over 7.3 Trillion Dollars in Debt. To put this in perspective it would take over thirty one thousand years spending one dollar a second to reach a Trillion Dollars.

He explains specifically the accounting scams that have been used to intentionally hide the truth from us and how seriously we have already been harmed.

Swanson's step by step analysis reveals why you and I may soon be forced to say good bye to our jobs, our businesses, our homes, our savings, our retirement, and our future.

He offers us a solution to this awful mess. He sets forth the specific action each of us can take to force our political leaders to tell the truth and stop spending America into bankruptcy.

Please buy and read America the Broke immediately. Let's take action before it is too late.


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Summary: Best of the Deficit Books
Review: As the election approaches, several books have come out warning about the dangers of the huge deficits the Bush Administration has accumulated. I've read them all, but AMERICA THE BROKE is by far the easiest to read. It presents the most lucid explanation about how we got into this mess and what we need to do very quickly to get out of it. Swanson (who had a bestseller a few years ago on the same subject) makes it clear that soon it will be too late, and that's probably the most alarming thing of all.

It's really a quick, fascinating read that sprinkles a dose of reality on the current political discourse.



Rating:
Summary: America the Broke
Review: Economics is a strange field indeed: full of old - and in many cases - odd ideas about the world of fiscal and monetary fitness. Even more, most economists rarely look to underlying causes in their perceived fruitful endeavors. Let's begin with the title. It should have read: How a reckless public is demanding The White House and Congress bury us in debt. As for our Children's future, ah, well, the late John Maynard Keynes seems to have captured it best: "In the long run, we're all dead." Okay, maybe JMK is a poor example because he didn't have children, but his sentiment lives on, regardless of the endless yapping by adults about the importance of future generations. Damn, I want that tax cut and/or rebate check and I want it NOW! Borrowing from our future is a time-honored tradition in America. Keep hope alive. And keep those printing presses running.

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Summary: Wake Up Call
Review: Every American should read this book. As we all focus on the upcoming elections and what the media would have us believe are the most compelling issues of today and our future...terriorism, the war in Iraq, John Kerry's record in Vietnam or George Bush's lack of one - even gay marriage gets more press than this - the real problem is that our country is going bankrupt and we're all going to be bankrupt as a result. Swanson writes a book that is as compelling as a train wreck - you want to turn away but can't, you wish it wasn't happening but it is, you can see lives falling apart but can't do anything about it. The thing is, in this case we can. If enough American's created a grassroots movement to educate each other about this issue we could save our future and that of our children and grandchildren. And this is the book to do it. There's no denying this is a complicated issue but Swanson makes it a captivating read to rival the top ficton and non-fiction options today and takes great efforts to ensure that this is put in real life terms we can all understand regardless of our background or economic status (which will change if we don't take heed). I read it in two days, told all my friends to read it, refinanced my mortgage and checked my savings. Do yourself a favor and become educated on what may arguably be the most critical issue of our future and one of the few that we can do something about.

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Summary: Important questions
Review: In a critical political climate it is essential to ask the toughest questions, the ones where outcomes will determine our future. If we limit ourselves to the minor ones like gay marriage, prescription drugs from Canada, nuclear waste in NV and stem cells, we risk leaving our future, our children's future to the unfettered dictim of government officials...and their agenda and influences may be different from what we would wish...if we asked.
Swanson asks one of the toughest questions..our growing fiscal mortgage to foreigners against our children's heritage. No matter what side you take on the issue, and I take his, you should understand the parameters, the risks and remind yourself with this book that you are observing your economic and civic future as a sandpile. One grain or one billion borrowed is added one at a time until, at a time that is scientifically unpredictable but with a certain outcome, it collapses.

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Summary: A must read, but how are we to fix it?
Review: The author does an excellent job of alerting us to America's fiscal problems, and for those who need a better understanding of them, this is a must read. It is well written and provides realistic scenarios if we fail to fix the system.

But Gerald Swanson describes only the symptom, and like other economists he overlooks the disease (our moneyed political system) and the real cure (public funding of political campaigns). To expect "honesty, responsibility and good government to return to government" is a pipe dream when the fat cats who fund our political elections are paying for just the opposite. What part of "he who pays the piper calls the tune" do we not understand?

Swanson also favors privatizing some of our government functions, and I would agree if we could get private campaign money out of our public electoral system. Private companies can give campaign contributions to control the outcome of their investment; government entities cannot. One need only look at the "privatized" rebuilding of Iraq under Halliburton for evidence of the affects it would have on U.S. taxpayers.

On the health care cost crisis, the author offers only four choices: Raise taxes, reduce benefits, change eligibility guidelines, or continue borrowing to finance Medicare and Medicaid. But there's a fifth and needed action: control the spiraling health care costs which are increasing at double-digit rates! We struggle to find ways of "paying" for health care but continue to allow the medical community to run open loop while building unneeded hospitals, buying excessive numbers of high-tech scanners and ordering medical procedures that are not needed. Physician self referrals have run amok. A single payor health care system is long overdue, but both sides of the isle have been AWOL on the issue and will remain so until the $100 million per year that is given by the medical and pharmaceutical industries is replaced with public funding of campaigns.

That said, this is still a must-read book. But the author and his colleagues must now address the common denominator; the dollar bill. Congressmen are bought and paid for by special interests and they will continue putting them ahead of public interests until the funding of elections is paid for by the taxpayers. For $15 per taxpayer per year we could fund both state and federal elections and eliminate over $2000 per taxpayer per year in government giveaways. Only then will we see balanced budgets, reasonable government spending and a fair tax system. That's a bargain at a hundred times the price.


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Summary: A book every American must read
Review: The United States is facing a potential financial collapse. For example, did you know that . . .

If interest rates rise to the double-digit levels of the Carter administration, payments on our current national debt will consume every single tax dollar the government collects.

Or . . .

That foreigners now hold nearly 40 percent of all U.S. treasury securities, making us completely dependent on other nations to keep us afloat.

Every American should read this insightful, lucid, and well-written book and join in the fight to stop Washington's reckless ways and save our country from bankruptcy!


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Summary: How could this happen to us?
Review: This book must be read by every voter before the next election! Using government figures and readily available information, Gerald Swanson points out how the U.S. Government is following in the footsteps of the failed economies of Rome, and many other countries (most recently Argentina) by spending money they don't have. He catalogues the ways this is being done and the deceit of our politicians in continuing to overspend for their own purposes. He then presents remedies and techniques for attempting to correct the problems. A terrific read that woke me up and made me mad and determined!