The Big Handout: How Government Subsidies and Corporate Welfare Corrupt the World We Live in and Wreak Havoc on Our Food Bills

By Thomas Kostigen
"A lively polemic in favor of the elimination of government subsidies, especially on food and energy products.
Whether success would be the panacea that MarketWatch environmental ethics columnist Kostigen (The Green Blue Book: The Simple Water-Savings Guide to Everything in Your Life, 2010, etc.) envisions for us is another matter, but while we await the answer, he provides much high-density fare concerning how our food is produced and what it is doing to us, and how the subsidy system is uniting food and energy production. The author calculates that we all spend about $10,000 per year for subsidies out of an average tax bill of $17,000, and that everything would be cheaper without them. His main concerns are the "Big Five" staple crops—corn, wheat, soy, rice and cotton—and oil production. Kostigen discusses how production methods have changed since the 1970s with the corporate takeover of family-based farm enterprise, and how the financial system has been perverted to support vertically integrated factory farming and food distribution. The subsidy system in the United States has made local production of food staples difficult elsewhere—e.g., it has destroyed Haiti's rice production and severely damaged Mexico's corn production. Kostigen does not take into account that in countries where subsidies were abolished or reduced (e.g., "shock therapy" in the former Soviet Eastern Bloc), rapidly rising prices combined with shortages for disastrous results. Also, the increasing concentration of wealth in the U.S. reduces the usefulness of measures like the "average tax bill" in estimating actual benefits of policies.
While such matters continue to be discussed, Kostigen provides a forceful statement of the need to reorganize food and other primary goods production in the U.S., for reasons of both economy and health."  (Kirkus Reviews)  Check Our Catalog
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Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border

By Jan Brewer
"Governor Brewer details the scope of the immigration problem and its impact on Arizona, and she makes a case for allowing states to override federal authority when necessary. Concise and hard-hitting, "Scorpions for Breakfast" is sure to be a clarion call to help citizens understand this vital issue and its implications not only for Arizona, but the entire nation."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran

By Dilip Hiro
"In this comprehensive new treatment, a renowned political writer and historian places the politics, peoples, and cultural background of this critical region firmly into the context of current international focus."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington

By Rick Perry
"In his latest book, Governor Perry (On My Honor) offers a compelling defense of federalism and the dangers of a vast bureaucratic central government, though he's selective with supporting facts. Perry argues that the enumerated powers of the Constitution given to us by Madison and Jefferson, guaranteed under the Tenth Amendment, must be restored. States should govern closer to the people, with each state functioning as a "laboratory." Perry defends Massachusetts's state-run health care and supports the ability of states to attract "like minded" people and compete with each other. Liberty is under threat by progressives from each party, an overzealous Supreme Court, and fiscally unsustainable government programs. Perry charges Washington with failing to meet its "statutory obligations" when it comes to illegal immigration. With candor, Perry compares Social Security to a Ponzi scheme that "hoodwinked the American public" into thinking that it is "financially sound, when clearly it is not." True to his orthodoxies, he ditches federal programs and regulations. But beyond revealing his own beliefs, Perry highlights an overlooked history of growing federal power and the purpose of the states as a matter of Constitutional law and prudent governance."  (Publishers Weekly)  Check Our Catalog

Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters?: The Mormon Church Versus the Office of the Presidency of the United States of America

By Tricia Erickson
" The information in this book goes much deeper than the unveiling of Mitt Romney's political record. For the first time in history, we could see a Mormon President at the helm.
Do you have any idea what this possible next President believes? Why should his religious beliefs matter to you?
When you get through Part I of this book, these questions will be answered. This is NOT a Kennedy Catholic moment. Mitt Romney's beliefs and convictions are so uncanny that you will most assuredly question his judgment to be in charge of the highest office in the land.
If Part I does not shake you, Part II will, by exposing the reality of what Romney has "done" in his political career, versus the conservative fa ade that we are led to believe. Will his rhetoric match his deeds as President? One look at his record herewith will cause great concern."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

This Is Herman Cain!: My Journey to the White House

"Growing up poor in the segregated South, Cain describes how he pulled himself out of the depths of poverty and became successful the old-fashioned way. His strong beliefs and values have helped him in his career and personal life, and he reveals his self-made secrets in this memoir."   (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy

By Bill Clinton
"President Bill Clinton gives us his views on the challenges facing the United States today and why government matters--presenting his ideas on restoring energyeconomic growth, job creation, financial responsibility, resolving the mortgage crisis, and pursuing a strategy, job creation, and financial responsibility and offering a plan to get us "back in the future business." He explains how we got into the current economic crisis, and lays down a plan for long-term prosperity. He offers specific recommendations on how we can put people back to work, increase bank lending and corporate investment, double our exports, restore our manufacturing base, and create new businesses. He supports President Obama's emphasis on green technology, saying that change changing in the way we produce and consume energy is the strategy most likely to spark a fast-growing economy while enhancing our national security.
Clinton also stresses that we need a strong private sector and a smart government working together to restore prosperity and progress, demonstrating that whenever we've given in to the temptation to blame government for all our problems, we've lost our ability to produce sustained economic growth and shared prosperity.commitment to shared prosperity, balanced growth, financial responsibility, and investment for the future."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

By Michael Lewis
"The cheap credit available from 2002 to 2008 radically transformed societies worldwide, with Icelanders tossing aside their fishing gear to become bankers, for instance. Then the crunch came, and many of these societies are stumbling about as part of the "new Third World." As a greedy debtor nation, we're not so far behind."  (Library Journal)  Check Our Catalog