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Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government
Politics and thieves, coercion and regulation, fascism and the Fed, centralization and liberty, workers and unions, trade and freedom, free-market achievements and government disasters in American history—this book covers it all!
Organized Crime collection of essays in the tradition of Austrian political economy—a combination of applied economics and the study of governmental reality. Unlike “mainstream” economists who are content to spin mathematical model after mathematical model which explain little or nothing about the real world, DiLorenzo’s focus has always been just the opposite—to use economic understanding to gain a better understanding of how the political-economic world works. Austrian economics is indispensable to succeed at this task.
The book is divided into six sections: “Coercion and Regulation” analyzes various aspects of government regulation of business; “Politics and Thieves” is of course about the inherent nature of government; “Centralization versus Liberty” discusses the never-ending quest by statists to monopolize and centralize political power so as to isolate themselves as much as possible from public influence; “Money and the State” describes the myriad evils of central banking, which was always thought of by its original proponents in America as an engine of corruption; “Workers and Unions” discusses various labor union myths and superstitions that too often cloud the public’s thinking about the reality of labor markets; and “Truth and Lies about Markets” is a taxonomy of some of the main market-failure myths that have long been used to illegitimately advance the cause of economic interventionism, as well as some newer ones.
In Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government, Thomas J. DiLorenzo strips away the vast apparatus of establishment propaganda and exposes the government smokescreen. No statist lies are safe from his scrutiny. In his straightforward and methodical approach to uncovering truths of freedom, liberty has a champion.
Organized Crime collection of essays in the tradition of Austrian political economy—a combination of applied economics and the study of governmental reality. Unlike “mainstream” economists who are content to spin mathematical model after mathematical model which explain little or nothing about the real world, DiLorenzo’s focus has always been just the opposite—to use economic understanding to gain a better understanding of how the political-economic world works. Austrian economics is indispensable to succeed at this task.
The book is divided into six sections: “Coercion and Regulation” analyzes various aspects of government regulation of business; “Politics and Thieves” is of course about the inherent nature of government; “Centralization versus Liberty” discusses the never-ending quest by statists to monopolize and centralize political power so as to isolate themselves as much as possible from public influence; “Money and the State” describes the myriad evils of central banking, which was always thought of by its original proponents in America as an engine of corruption; “Workers and Unions” discusses various labor union myths and superstitions that too often cloud the public’s thinking about the reality of labor markets; and “Truth and Lies about Markets” is a taxonomy of some of the main market-failure myths that have long been used to illegitimately advance the cause of economic interventionism, as well as some newer ones.
In Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government, Thomas J. DiLorenzo strips away the vast apparatus of establishment propaganda and exposes the government smokescreen. No statist lies are safe from his scrutiny. In his straightforward and methodical approach to uncovering truths of freedom, liberty has a champion.
7 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 2012
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483 people want to read
About the author
Thomas J. DiLorenzo
34 books196 followersThomas James DiLorenzo is an American economics professor at Loyola University Maryland. He identifies himself as an adherent of the Austrian School of economics. He is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and an associated scholar of the Abbeville Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 19, 2013
I was already familiar with a fair amount of the information presented by DiLorenzo. That said, reading story after story of the abuses of the federal government in the United States does nothing to restore the glamorous view of American history that I once had...especially with his discussion of the Lincoln administration before, during, and after the civil war.
I am definitely in the pro nullification, pro secession, and anti-Lincoln camp after reading this book. I probably need to look into more of DiLorenzo's work on Lincoln because I found the topic so fascinating (and infuriating). All in all, an excellent book for people to read to get acquainted with just how systematically evil government institutions generally are.
I am definitely in the pro nullification, pro secession, and anti-Lincoln camp after reading this book. I probably need to look into more of DiLorenzo's work on Lincoln because I found the topic so fascinating (and infuriating). All in all, an excellent book for people to read to get acquainted with just how systematically evil government institutions generally are.
February 2, 2014
DiLorenzo does it again!!! A real page turner that I could not put down for very long once I started it. His prose is very fluid and his acidic rhetoric gives life to the book. Some parts seemed repetitive, as if each chapter is meant to be a stand alone essay, and for that reason, one - theoretically - would not have to read the book in a linear fashion, and could skip around to read whatever chapters interested them the most. A must read!!!!!!
May 8, 2015
The author doesn't mince words when criticizing all the evils caused and promoted by governments around the world -and through history- but especially in the United States. The book is full of proof and samples of crimes and stupidities commited legally on the people. It's amazing how many things we take for historical facts just because we heard them repeated many times by the politicized media. Dilorenzo debunks many of these historical myths. Lots of things, political and busineswise, to learn about here. Definitely, it's worth the read.
April 2, 2013
Not only a well written collection of articles, but hugely informative! So you didn't know that the State was evil? You haven't bought the logic behind organized coercion in the name of government? Then I can recommend this book. Did you know already that the State was evil? Then read this book to affirm that conviction.
January 20, 2019
While most essays lack depth he makes up with the breadth of coverage and useful analysis. The author directs his reader toward numerous books that flesh out his points in greater detail. A fine primer for those interested in multiplex examples of gov malfeasance and illiteracy of econ laws.
November 20, 2012
Great book by Mr. DiLorenzo. I have read other books by this author and he has yet to publish something I did not find informative and/or educational. In "Organized Crime" he does not let me down.
The book contains roughly 52 Chapters, of which take you about 10-15 minutes depending on your reading speed (with the help of my Kindle PaperWhite, I am able to see my reading speed) These chapters are chock-full of information on how the government commits crimes against us. Not your run of the mill crime such as stealing my newspaper or breaking an ordinance with loud music after 11:00PM. No, these crimes are more pernicious and are veiled in government assistance.
This book is great for those who do not see this country through the prism of party. Some of the more notable chapters were:
Chapter 27: Fascism, The new American system. Chapter 36: Why the government is responsible for the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and 44: The truth about Sherman's anti-trust act.
This was a great book and I recommend it.
The book contains roughly 52 Chapters, of which take you about 10-15 minutes depending on your reading speed (with the help of my Kindle PaperWhite, I am able to see my reading speed) These chapters are chock-full of information on how the government commits crimes against us. Not your run of the mill crime such as stealing my newspaper or breaking an ordinance with loud music after 11:00PM. No, these crimes are more pernicious and are veiled in government assistance.
This book is great for those who do not see this country through the prism of party. Some of the more notable chapters were:
Chapter 27: Fascism, The new American system. Chapter 36: Why the government is responsible for the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and 44: The truth about Sherman's anti-trust act.
This was a great book and I recommend it.
September 23, 2012
Good, but when he started disrespecting Abe Lincoln he lost me. His zero tolerance towards war misses it's mark with me. But the economy policies I can understand and make a lot of sense to me.
August 28, 2017
Awesome book!
Phenomenal book. DiLorenzo is one of my absolute favorites. He effortlessly squeezes so much truth into so few words. Maybe he should take up meme making?
Phenomenal book. DiLorenzo is one of my absolute favorites. He effortlessly squeezes so much truth into so few words. Maybe he should take up meme making?
January 30, 2021
I was expecting this to be a brief and bitter book with very few particularly detailed insights. The book is certainly a little bitter and polemical, but the author balances this well with some very interesting insights and perspectives. And as brief as some of the arguments are, I managed to learn quite a few concepts from Austrian economics from this book that I had had trouble grasping in other sources.
The book spends a LOT of space to criticising Abraham Lincoln and some of the other Union war heroes, and DiLorenzo does a good job in raising awareness to the fact that a lot of people who fought on our favoured side in the Civil War were by no means angels. We can all agree that abolition was a good thing, but that does not mean that we must accept that the Northerners were morally pure. On the contrary, on some subjects, the South had things right. And DiLorenzo does a great job of dispensing with the silly notion that the Civil War was about nothing but the institution of slavery. I was highly sceptical of that contention, and DiLorenzo absolutely buries it, even in his brevity.
DiLorenzo is certainly much more sceptical and condemnatory of union ideology than Henry Hazlitt was, and a lot of his points are insightful. That being said, he seems to paint them with a rather broad brush without much balance in the arguments. I agree with him overall, but am not quite as negative.
Overall a pretty interesting read and very much a page-turner. I'm an agonisingly slow reader, but managed to get through this one in a few days, so it's definitely worth a read.
The book spends a LOT of space to criticising Abraham Lincoln and some of the other Union war heroes, and DiLorenzo does a good job in raising awareness to the fact that a lot of people who fought on our favoured side in the Civil War were by no means angels. We can all agree that abolition was a good thing, but that does not mean that we must accept that the Northerners were morally pure. On the contrary, on some subjects, the South had things right. And DiLorenzo does a great job of dispensing with the silly notion that the Civil War was about nothing but the institution of slavery. I was highly sceptical of that contention, and DiLorenzo absolutely buries it, even in his brevity.
DiLorenzo is certainly much more sceptical and condemnatory of union ideology than Henry Hazlitt was, and a lot of his points are insightful. That being said, he seems to paint them with a rather broad brush without much balance in the arguments. I agree with him overall, but am not quite as negative.
Overall a pretty interesting read and very much a page-turner. I'm an agonisingly slow reader, but managed to get through this one in a few days, so it's definitely worth a read.
June 25, 2021
Decent short introductory essays and quips on all manner of subjects regarding the state and oppressive tyrranies. Not much cited, but nonetheless important thought provoking discussions on the subjects.
November 8, 2016
DiLorenzo lays out a decent criticism of how Government, corrupted by size and motive, has engaged in forceful and deceitful acts against the populace.
To be honest, I really dislike collections of articles such as this and found in other "books". If an author is still alive, such collections are always better to be formed in to a true book that is able to cleanly explain a subject from start to finish. While DiLorenzo's articles are well written (and are quite often sourced with citations! Such a rarity among articles), the execution of the message would have been much better had to taken the time to write these out in to full chapters of their own.
The topics covered in the book were good ones to discuss (though I think that the mentions of the Civil war would be better served in a separate book), but I do wish that the author had expanded more on the topics of taxation, subsidies, and the enforcement of victimless crimes.
Overall a good read, and some articles were absolutely fantastic. If only the author could have written this out as an actual book and added another hundred pages or so, this could have been something especially fantastic.
edit: I've decided to give the book 5 stars, from the original 4. I find that I often go back to the book to re-read certain articles when I come across various topics of discussion. I still wish that the author had written a proper book instead of just compiling a collection of his articles, though.
To be honest, I really dislike collections of articles such as this and found in other "books". If an author is still alive, such collections are always better to be formed in to a true book that is able to cleanly explain a subject from start to finish. While DiLorenzo's articles are well written (and are quite often sourced with citations! Such a rarity among articles), the execution of the message would have been much better had to taken the time to write these out in to full chapters of their own.
The topics covered in the book were good ones to discuss (though I think that the mentions of the Civil war would be better served in a separate book), but I do wish that the author had expanded more on the topics of taxation, subsidies, and the enforcement of victimless crimes.
Overall a good read, and some articles were absolutely fantastic. If only the author could have written this out as an actual book and added another hundred pages or so, this could have been something especially fantastic.
edit: I've decided to give the book 5 stars, from the original 4. I find that I often go back to the book to re-read certain articles when I come across various topics of discussion. I still wish that the author had written a proper book instead of just compiling a collection of his articles, though.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews