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The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth About Globalization, Corporate Cons and High Finance Fraudsters [Paperback]

Greg Palast
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
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Book Description

27 Mar 2003
Palast, an investigative reporter, spent five years trying to find out what is really going on in politics and big business. In this volume he reveals what PR companies, lobbyists and politicians spend their time keeping hidden. Using sources inside the global institutions he establishes that the IMF and the World Bank serve the interests of the very rich in Europe and America. In a series of sting operations he reveals how far the Labour government was prepared to go in its attempts to gain the support of big business, and his report on the American presidental election makes it clear that the wrong man is in the White House.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Robinson Publishing; New Ed edition (27 Mar 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1841197149
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841197142
  • Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.3 x 20.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 247,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Amazon Review

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy contains Greg Palast's greatest hits, and that means some of the biggest stories and scandals in recent memory. Palast is an internationally recognised expert on the control of corporate power who previously worked with labour unions and consumer groups in the US, South America and Europe investigating corporate corruption. Since then he has become a journalist whose investigative reports for the BBC and The Observer are all but banned in the US but that nevertheless pick up awards by the dozen.

The book opens with his report on how Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris allegedly stole the 2000 election for Bush by illegally removing African-Americans from voter rolls. This take-no-prisoners opener sets the tone for much of the book. It is followed by his report claiming that Bush killed off the FBI's investigation of the bin Laden family prior to the September 11 attack-–for which he was awarded the California State University's Project Censored Prize for a report too hot for US media.

The heart of the book is about the institutionalised economic criminal activity that is part and parcel of the politics of globalisation. Palast portrays the IMF, the World Bank and the assorted group of agencies as institutions that "dream up, then dictate, the terms of the new international economics" to create what he describes as "the Golden Straitjacket" of globalisation. He produces vivid case studies from across the globe to challenge even the most paranoid of conspiracy theorists. On the whole, the book claims to show that economic "assistance plans" presided over by these institutions amount to a (so far) guaranteed sentence of economic damnation.

As much has been published elsewhere; there is little new here and Palast's strident style can sometimes obscure the finer points of analyses. But this is an in-your-face book with a powerful call to action that will outrage and energise many of its readers. --Larry Brown

Review

'Courageous reporting . . . Read this book!' -- Michael Moore

'The information is a hand grenade.' -- John Pilger

'The journalist I admire the most. I'm an avid reader of everything Palast writes - can never get enough of it.' -- George Monbiot

'This is a great book, an essential book. Greg Palast is the most important investigative journalist of our time.' -- Tribune

'Those in authority will not agree, but we need more Greg Palasts.' -- Will Hutton

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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First Sentence
You read the papers and you watch television, so you know the kind of spider-brained, commercially poisoned piece-of-crap reporting you get in America. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Ok, we all knew that Bush couldn't have won the election without some shenanigans, but Greg Palast blows the lid off corruption on a scale that's hard to imagine. How he got through all the red tape and obstructions put up to stop him getting at the truth is amazing.
When he then shows how corrupt are the people in Blair's close circles, you stop feeling secure in anything. Top that with the machinations of the IMF and World Bank in Latin America, the big business at the heart of political decision making
and you want to move somewhere far away, like Alaska. Except that the Exxon Valdez got there first. Read this book - it shows the world as it is, not as they like you to believe it is.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The buzzing of business 5 Jan 2006
By Stephen A. Haines HALL OF FAME
Format:Paperback
Years ago, we watched, through blurred vison, Peter Sellers in Doctor Strangelove. The blurring was either from the hilarity or the grief the film inspired. The dialogue could double us over with mirth, while the story directly confronted us with our mortality and that control of our fate resided with such devious leaders. Greg Palast evokes an identical response. He chronicles the stolen election of the world�s most powerful leader, how the International Monetary Fund and World Band exercise immense control over national destinies, and how the rich increase their influence and income at our expence. He keeps us charmed with his wit, while reminding us of our near-helplessness in the face of mighty, but hidden, forces.

Every essay in this collection jolts the reader. It�s like turning over a rock or breaking open a rotten log - the ugly grubs exposed bring revulsion and dismay. How does life produce such distasteful creatures? Palast exposes the putrid path of the Bush dynasty, the betrayal of the British voters by "New Labour" and the intrigues of international corporations in Asia, Africa, Latin America. How, he asks, do we allow these people to gain their ascendancy over our lives? One answer lies within our favourite ideal community - the small, rural, American town. There, he notes, avaricious investors have overturned local attempts to retain their values to instil the symbols of corporate enterprise These blights on our landscape are made welcome - "they boost the economy"!

Palast�s concluding set of essays, how the Blair government sold out the British populace would bring tears to the hardiest. He shows how corporate executives and their agents have become an "arm of government" in policy making and implemetation. The arm has a long reach, extending from New York banks and government offices in Washington. Centre to these revealing articles is the overthrow of a tax on shopping mall car parks. The deal, engineered by a major corporation was part of an overall plan to "head the [Labour] government in a different direction." In other words, reverse the policies that were the foundation of Labour�s successes at the polls. Blair�s real foundation is "America�s enterpreneurialism," the drive for global markets which "projects corporate powers onto one tiny, cold island" welcomed by its "always-grinning native chief." Blair prides himself on "listening to industry" before formulating policy.

Palast has few peers as an investigative journalist. Of necessity, he must shield his sources, which keeps us mildly suspicious. Are things really THAT bad? Unfortunately, as time passes, his assertions are substantiated, restoring our faith in his reporting. As an investigative journalist, the solutions for many of the social ills he reports are lacking here. And so they should - the solutions lie with his readers. This book isn�t a prescription for what besets us, but a learning tool. He notes cases of how success against corporate indifference has been achieved. Find out how to tap in to $1.04 TRILLION available to those without adequate local banking services. Read this book to understand what is happening around you and take the first steps to implement the cure. It's your choice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant....but scary ! 20 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
Greg Palast manages to expose the total lack of principles and the total domination of self-interest within the world of politics and big business (the bigger the better it seems !).

The scary things are:-

1. Why do these people get away with it ?
2. If they are this cynical in their methods, what will stop them doing whatever they want in future without retribution ?
3. If Palast is being discredited, why have they never taken him to court over these stories ? (i think I know that one !).

Read this book to open your eyes ! Vote accordingly !

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars WORLD CLASS
A must read for ALL. A wake up call, almost unbelievable, sadly true. Palast must be best the investigative journalist of all time.
Published 1 month ago by regwhiffin
1.0 out of 5 stars Spare Us!
Any book with endorsements by Pilger, Monbiot and Hutton (all of whom make an extremely good living on the back of the systems they decry) is going to be pretty predictable. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Cliff Fiscal
5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye Opener if a Little Self-Indulgent
Although a Brit and I like to keep abreast of current affairs I must confess to not having heard of Greg Pallast before I read this book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Trevor Molyneux
5.0 out of 5 stars great condition very happy
Great book, I have read other books by this person and saw this. Would recommend it. Let your mind be opened
Published 14 months ago by paula
4.0 out of 5 stars A very disturbing world indeed!
This book contains very important information, some of it I knew already, some I didn't but all in all it was a good read. My only problem is Greg Palast's writing style. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Francisca
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb & thought provoking look at the 2000 US election
Palast takes a thorough & genuine reporter's approach to one of the most blatant bits of fraud ever pulled. Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2008 by CJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!
Investigative reporter Greg Palast is one of a kind. He delights in stinging big business and bulky government with facts both would prefer to ignore. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2004 by Rolf Dobelli
5.0 out of 5 stars Care about democracy? Care about anything?
If the answer to either of these questions is yes not only should you read this book you should try to get everybody you know to read it too. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2003 by Gary Crilly
1.0 out of 5 stars OH! This is original!
What I am sick of is seeing 101 different anti-american, anti-democracy, anti-capitalism books getting brilliant reviews. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2003 by Jamie Armstrong
4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading
This is an interesting, thought provoking, and occasionally amusing book in the by a writer with a similar view of the world to Michael Moore. Some of the content of the book, e.g. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2003
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