- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (14 Jan 2003)
- ASIN: B0006I7FBI
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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First Sentence
IN AUGUST OF 2002 I received a politely phrased notice from my cable company, Adelphia, addressed to "Dear Valued Customer" announcing that my monthly cable fee would be increasing. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
IN AUGUST OF 2002 I received a politely phrased notice from my cable company, Adelphia, addressed to "Dear Valued Customer" announcing that my monthly cable fee would be increasing. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The really sad thing about this book is that, although we might be entertained, and it sure feels good if nothing else to verbally abuse the bad boys of corporate America, it is all so morosely ineffectual and after the fact. How many of the CEOs that columnist (and currently independent candidate for governor of California) Arianna Huffington lambasts here will actually do any jail time? How many will pay fines that are more than a fraction of the benefits they have already received, benefits they have reinvested, benefits that are drawing dividends, interest and influence? How many will even find their lavish lifestyles amended in the slightest?
The answer my friend is probably zero.
And so it goes (wrote Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in Slaughterhouse Five, but that's another story). In the long run whether corporate executives will continue to find the means to rip off their shareholders is of little moment. Let's say each visible pig managed to steal one way or the other an average of $40-million from his corporation; and let's say there are one thousand such swine. How much does that cost us? Forty million times a thousand is $40-billion big ones, or as Evertt Dirksen used to say, a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we're talking real money. Notice, by the way, that in small companies or in a business that you may happen to own, there is absolutely no chance that you could get away with ripping off...yourself!
Furthermore, remember that these oinkers have to spend that money on conspicuous consumption of some kind, a house on Long Island, an apartment in Manhattan, a yacht berth at Martha's Vineyard, Picassos and Rembrandts, a mistress, Chateau Petrus and Cuban cigars. So some of it trickles down, and for most of us poor souls in the unemployment line (God, we're hardly alive! relatively speaking) it really doesn't matter much.
What does matter is how corporations are able to gain unnatural influence over our elected officials and thereby rip off the government, the environment, pollute the water and the air, drive smaller businessmen out of business, purchase public lands at garage sale prices, economically ensnare millions of workers (and then dump them when the time is ripe), and guess what, nobody can be held responsible!
I wish Ms Huffington had focused on these more substantial crimes of corporate America and on the way the system works to shield them and their execs from any real accountability. I did enjoy her numerous flights of nasty rhetoric and the befuddling array of facts and figures she presents (I assume they are mostly right), and I have a lot of sympathy for those who got their pension funds shortchanged while the CEOs golden-parachuted on gossamer wings to the French Riviera or Barbados or a ranch in Texas. I even feel some sympathy for the poor slob who bought Enron at ninety bucks and change or WorldCom at sixty-four fifty (see p. 41). And it is true she has a table on page 115 entitled "Buying Congress" which lists the top five senators and top five congressmen in terms of campaign contributions from the accounting industry, 1989-2001. The salient thing to notice, however, is that there are exactly five democrats and five republicans on the list. What does that tell us about how things are going to go in the future? With both political parties feeding heartily at the trough is there any chance that any of what Huffington rails against will change?
The answer my friend is the null set. Until the laws of the land are changed so that corporations AND their executives are held responsible for their actions, business will continue as usual. The rich will grow obscenely more rich, and someone, somewhere, who doesn't deserve, it will get ripped off once again.
And so it goes.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
71 reviews
109 of 114 people found the following review helpful
A book about crime, not just about money
12 Feb 2003
Format:Hardcover
It is difficult to believe that some of the reviewers here have actually read "Pigs at the Trough." While they offer personal criticisms of the author herself, they say little about the book she's written.
"Pigs at the Trough" does, stylistically, contain some cliche phrases (the counting of cliches having been mentioned by another reviewer, who has obviously taken up the practice as presented by Martin Amis in his excellent book, "The War Against Cliche"). I attribute some of the cliches, however, to the fact that Ms. Huffington's writing is more like journalism than literature, much more about frank criticism that subtle, ironic remarks (of the sort found in papers like "The Guardian," for example).
Ms. Huffington's aim in "Pigs at the Trough" is to present the facts (and they are facts) on corporate crimes, and to introduce the reader to those who commit them.
"Pigs at the Trough" does not, in my opinion, come across as an attack on all businessmen or on wealthy people. This book is not focused on the fact that these businessmen are wealthy so much as the criminal ways in which they've managed to obtain that wealth. Americans need to be more aware the shamelessly illegal ways in which some businessmen, often CEOs, have obtained (I cannot say "earned") their fortunes.
The businessmen mentioned in "Pigs at the Trough" did not accumulate wealth through an honest work ethic, but out of exploitation, fancy accounting, and the circumvention of laws. They go unpunished for it, and Americans let them.
Yes, there are - obviously - business people in America who live very comfortably and have accumulated their wealth honestly and did not commit crimes in the name of money. These people are not the focus of "Pigs at the Trough", and rightly so.
This is an excellent read, especially if - like me - you have not managed to keep a running tally (and it would be such a lengthy one) of all of the corporate crimes you've heard of, or if you've not memorized all of the names of CEOs who ought to be in prison. Even the daily newspapers that bring us the Enron and WorldCom scandal coverage don't often delve deeply into what exactly a CEO going before Congress has done over the years.
"Pigs at the Trough" is a blunt and effective debriefing on crime for which we are all long overdue.
"Pigs at the Trough" does, stylistically, contain some cliche phrases (the counting of cliches having been mentioned by another reviewer, who has obviously taken up the practice as presented by Martin Amis in his excellent book, "The War Against Cliche"). I attribute some of the cliches, however, to the fact that Ms. Huffington's writing is more like journalism than literature, much more about frank criticism that subtle, ironic remarks (of the sort found in papers like "The Guardian," for example).
Ms. Huffington's aim in "Pigs at the Trough" is to present the facts (and they are facts) on corporate crimes, and to introduce the reader to those who commit them.
"Pigs at the Trough" does not, in my opinion, come across as an attack on all businessmen or on wealthy people. This book is not focused on the fact that these businessmen are wealthy so much as the criminal ways in which they've managed to obtain that wealth. Americans need to be more aware the shamelessly illegal ways in which some businessmen, often CEOs, have obtained (I cannot say "earned") their fortunes.
The businessmen mentioned in "Pigs at the Trough" did not accumulate wealth through an honest work ethic, but out of exploitation, fancy accounting, and the circumvention of laws. They go unpunished for it, and Americans let them.
Yes, there are - obviously - business people in America who live very comfortably and have accumulated their wealth honestly and did not commit crimes in the name of money. These people are not the focus of "Pigs at the Trough", and rightly so.
This is an excellent read, especially if - like me - you have not managed to keep a running tally (and it would be such a lengthy one) of all of the corporate crimes you've heard of, or if you've not memorized all of the names of CEOs who ought to be in prison. Even the daily newspapers that bring us the Enron and WorldCom scandal coverage don't often delve deeply into what exactly a CEO going before Congress has done over the years.
"Pigs at the Trough" is a blunt and effective debriefing on crime for which we are all long overdue.
70 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Keeping the (other) Elites on the Run. Sorry, Laura. I just had to use it.
24 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
This was the book that started me reading more and more about politics, and the political influence that afflicts our country. I highly recommend it, and here's why.
In a hard-hitting, almost cynical style that I did appreciate, the author attacks companies that have raped the public and their employees because of their own greed. She names them like a littany of indictments that followed their wake: Adelphia, Tyco, Arthur Andersen, Enron, World Com, to name a few. Huffington shows how these once respected companies, their greed, and the relaxation of regulations have allowed them to virtually alter standard principles of accounting so they can hide money and cheat the government, taxpayers and employees.
Unlike one reviewer here who found her style sarcastic, I didn't mind. After all, these greedy little folks who walked away with millions after stranding customers and leaving employees pensionless, can take a little sarcasm their way. However, I agree with him the quizzes got in the way of the pace of the book, and seemed a little childish. (I always carry a highlighter for books like this one anyway.)
The most important thing Arianna makes clear is that politicians no longer seem to represent the people who elect them, but the interests of the corporations with the largest contributions. (It's called bribery outside of Congress.) This administration has given their blessing with their silence, and has a huge following of people who still believe their gospel while they are getting their own pockets picked. The repudiation of the pension for United Airlines is a perfect example. What did the administration say? Nothing, not a word! But let the poor, little guy declare bankruptcy, and Senator Orrin Hatch and other congressmen of his ilk will be after them on behalf of MBNA, forever.
It's strange that neocons who worship at the holy grail of unrestrained capitalism, have little to say about this book, or challenge its contents. For once they cannot retort with that tiresome, insipid lament, "Well, Clinton did...." It's about the greed that this administration, corporate CEO's, and congressmen have fostered and encouraged with sweetheart deals, no-bid contracts, tax breaks, loopholes, secret meetings, and even corporate protection laws.
It's about people who never seem to have enough, no matter how much they already have. They will always want more.
In a hard-hitting, almost cynical style that I did appreciate, the author attacks companies that have raped the public and their employees because of their own greed. She names them like a littany of indictments that followed their wake: Adelphia, Tyco, Arthur Andersen, Enron, World Com, to name a few. Huffington shows how these once respected companies, their greed, and the relaxation of regulations have allowed them to virtually alter standard principles of accounting so they can hide money and cheat the government, taxpayers and employees.
Unlike one reviewer here who found her style sarcastic, I didn't mind. After all, these greedy little folks who walked away with millions after stranding customers and leaving employees pensionless, can take a little sarcasm their way. However, I agree with him the quizzes got in the way of the pace of the book, and seemed a little childish. (I always carry a highlighter for books like this one anyway.)
The most important thing Arianna makes clear is that politicians no longer seem to represent the people who elect them, but the interests of the corporations with the largest contributions. (It's called bribery outside of Congress.) This administration has given their blessing with their silence, and has a huge following of people who still believe their gospel while they are getting their own pockets picked. The repudiation of the pension for United Airlines is a perfect example. What did the administration say? Nothing, not a word! But let the poor, little guy declare bankruptcy, and Senator Orrin Hatch and other congressmen of his ilk will be after them on behalf of MBNA, forever.
It's strange that neocons who worship at the holy grail of unrestrained capitalism, have little to say about this book, or challenge its contents. For once they cannot retort with that tiresome, insipid lament, "Well, Clinton did...." It's about the greed that this administration, corporate CEO's, and congressmen have fostered and encouraged with sweetheart deals, no-bid contracts, tax breaks, loopholes, secret meetings, and even corporate protection laws.
It's about people who never seem to have enough, no matter how much they already have. They will always want more.
66 of 70 people found the following review helpful
Communist?!
24 April 2003
Format:Hardcover
I just read "Pigs" on a cross country flight. I thought it was an excellent analysis of how the U.S. government no longer functions as a democracy. It works like a radio station payola scheme. Inbred corporate directors steal money from investors and workers by giving each other outrageous amounts of money despite poor performance. Some politicians try to pass laws against these abuses, but these corporate govenors fund election campaigns making it impossible to change the system. Huffington lays out the issues that need to be addressed in order to correct these problems and gives out information on groups working to fix these issues.
I find the attack of this being a communist book to be [silly]. Huffington shows ways to make us back into a democracy where our vote counts and competition is fair. Corporate welfare is a form of communism if you ask me.
In regard to the cliches. Huffington uses the same wit that you could see on the Daily Show, or Politically Incorrect. This isn't a masterpiece, but it is a very accessible and useable guide to how our government currently works.
I find the attack of this being a communist book to be [silly]. Huffington shows ways to make us back into a democracy where our vote counts and competition is fair. Corporate welfare is a form of communism if you ask me.
In regard to the cliches. Huffington uses the same wit that you could see on the Daily Show, or Politically Incorrect. This isn't a masterpiece, but it is a very accessible and useable guide to how our government currently works.
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