Amazon Reviews
195 of 219 people found the following review to be helpful:
Briliantly Weaves History and Constitutional Vision with Contemporary Politics and Economics, August 29, 2006
By Robert Kall
Thom Hartmann has hit another grand slam homerun. This book nails the truth about how the right wing-- in both parties-- have been screwing the American people, except for the one hundredth of one percent who earn over $6 million a year.
The book walks through so many of the big lies (taxes, big government, trickle down economics) of the faux conservatives-- which he calls, so appropriately-- "Cons."
As a publisher of a progressive website, I kept reading stretches of chapters and saying to myself-- "Wow, that would make a great article." While the book is a non-fiction book, it started off in the first two pages touching my heart, bringing tears to my eyes. (watching inconvenient truth brought tears too.) It is a very fast, smooth read. You do have to put it down every now and then, to deal with outrage build-up.
As usual with Hartmann's books (amazingly, Amazon lists over 200 results in a search for Thom Hartmann) he offers great solutions as well as unique, insightful perspectives on the problems.
I'm recommending this to my readers (300,000 unique visitors a month) at opednews dot com as the best book they'll see this year.
152 of 171 people found the following review to be helpful:
Another great book from Thom Hartmann, August 23, 2006
By O. Johnson
I've read a few of Thom's books, and I'm about half way through with his latest one, Screwed. As usual with Thom's books, it's great, well written and researched, and the type of book you can't put down. the only down side is that as far as I know Thom didn't put out a Books on Tape version, which I would prefer as I spend more time driving during the day then I have time to read.
I'm also a big fan of his radio program, for 3 years now, and I've yet to hear Thom say that "a living wage" would be the equivalant to 18 bucks an hour. He has demonstrated that if you stimulate demand you improve the health of the economy, thus why the unemployment rate has dropped every time we've raised the minimum wage, short of those times when we had serious oil shortages, like in the 70's.
Even if we did raise it to 18 bucks an hour, the wage/productivity ratios at your average McDonalds would be still be better than 1:1, meaning McD's would still make a profit. As it is, it's a 1:4 ratio (meaning one week of sales pays for a month of labor), which was the same wage/productivity ratios in domestic industry immediately prior to the Republican Great Depression.
For anyone wanting to read a fine book, and to get familiarized with Thom Hartmann and his ideas, this couldn't be a better place to start....although What Would Jefferson Do? is great too.
24 of 25 people found the following review to be helpful:
Very Powerful, October 17, 2007
By Kenneth Brosky
Those who listen to Thom Hartmann should already know that anything he writes is well-researched and founded on the principles that the framers of our constitution held near and dear to their hearts. Thom has never been one to shy away from debate with conservatives, and in SCREWED he makes a point of confronting the most popular arguments in favor of free market economics and corporatocracy, using detailed research to thoroughly debunk claims that our country is headed in the "right path."
Thom Hartmann's point is one that 99 percent of Americans can agree with: people working full-time should be able to live comfortably. This means establishing and protecting the middle-class, an idea that no longer holds true and hasn't since the early days of Reagan. Thom highlights what needs to be done, and what we the people need to do about it. Highly recommended for anyone isn't currently making over $3 million a year.
28 of 33 people found the following review to be helpful:
A book true conservatives and liberals can love, September 23, 2006
By Wayne
History repeats itself (mainly when you flunk it) and Hartmann is just the historian to explain the current attempt to overthrow our constitution and democracy in terms of our history.
This book is in no more a liberal volume than conservative one. It is a book about the American promise and American dream.
The neocons in charge are not true conservatives and I found this easy to read book points to the reason why.
True conservatives and true liberals want America to work the way it was founded to work and this book reminds us makes America great.
Reading it has made me feel good about America again. We still have a chance to recapture our real values.
11 of 12 people found the following review to be helpful:
Passionate defense of the middle class against corporate power, July 27, 2007
By Rolf Dobelli
Since the early 1980s, American politics have been meshed with the interests of large corporations. The result is a new form of "corporatocracy," which Thom Hartmann links to the woes of the middle class. He believes that the political Conservatives who pushed for privatization and special corporate tax breaks intentionally harmed the American middle class, which he calls the bedrock of democracy. While the U.S. government has helped corporations and wealthy citizens, it has increasingly taxed the public and killed social programs that fostered the middle class. Hartmann focuses on the U.S.' future, which, he says, depends on having a healthy middle class. He adds a historical perspective by quoting America's founders, who predicted the dangers of creeping corporatism, economic elitism and an incipient aristocracy. Although he is very assertive in his attacks on Conservatives and corporations, his approach is refreshing. We found this impassioned analysis interesting, but - fair warning - you won't like it much if you're a corporate lobbyist or a Bush supporter.
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