Give Me a Break

How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media...

By: John Stossel

Narrated by: John Stossel

Ballooning government? Millionaire welfare queens? Tort lawyers run amok? A $330,000 outhouse, paid for with your tax dollars? John Stossel says, ""Give me a break.""

When he hit the airwaves thirty years ago, Stossel chased snake-oil peddlers, rip-off artists, and corporate thieves, winning the applause of his peers.

But along the way, he noticed that there was something far more troublesome going on: While the networks screamed about the dangers of coffee pots, worse risks were ignored.

In Give Me a Break, Stossel explains how ambitious bureaucrats, intellectually lazy reporters, and greedy lawyers make your life worse even as they claim to protect your interests. Taking on such sacred cows as the FDA, the War on Drugs, and scare-mongering environmental activists -- and backing up his trademark irreverence with careful reasoning and research -- he shows how the problems that government tries and fails to fix can be solved better by the extraordinary power of the free market.

He traces his journey from cub reporter to 20/20 co-anchor, revealing his battles to get his ideas to the public, his struggle to overcome stuttering, and his eventual realization that, for years, much of his reporting missed the point.

Stossel concludes the book with a modest proposal for change. It's a simple plan in the spirit of the Founding Fathers to ensure that America remains a place ""where free minds -- and free markets -- make good things happen.""

Could be the original No Spin Zone

John Stossel brilliantly captures ignorance and incompetence on both sides of the political aisle when dealing with a variety of subjects.
His background in consumer affairs reporting gives him the balance that comes from a no-nonsense approach to the issues of today.

Cynical, but true

I have always enjoyed John Stosell's reports on "Give me a break" on 20/20. This book is just a longer version. Very easy read and entertaining.

good take on the government

love the way Stossel explains and deliberates. definitely worth a read. recommend this book to any one wanting to avoid communist america

Thought provoking

The Erin Brokovich movie theme seems to be much less an accomplishment than a manipulation.

Great discussion by Stossel

Great discussion about why limited government would be better for the country. No crackpot ideas- just good argument. The narrator (Stossel) talks a bit too quickly in the beginning but the pace is better after the first couple of chapters.