What do you think?
Rate this book
The 5 Big Lies About American Business: Combating Smears Against the Free-Market Economy
WHY FEEL EMBARRASSED BY BUSINESS?
Every American benefits every day from the phenomenal productivity of the free market, so why do so many people feel guilty or skeptical about our business system? In this passionately argued, eye-opening book, talk-radio star and bestselling author Michael Medved provides detailed and devastating rebuttals to the most widely circulated smears against capitalism.
MYTH: Big business is bad, small business is good.
TRUTH: Every big business began life as a small business, and every small business today yearns for enough success to become a big business tomorrow. For some products—like cars or electrical power—little companies can’t benefit their workers or customers as reliably as huge corporations.
MYTH: Business executives are overpaid and corrupt.
TRUTH: Top leaders will always command top dollar, and a company can’t limit executive pay without limiting its access to talent. Ferocious, long-term competition in the corporate world ultimately rewards focus and hard work, not short cuts and corruption.
MYTH: You can count on better treatment from the government than from business.
TRUTH: If a private company deals with you poorly, you can take your business elsewhere. But with the government’s power, you get only two choices: compliance or jail.
Medved responds to business-bashing lies with the slashing wit, irrefutable facts, fascinating historical nuggets, illuminating anecdotes, and liberating clarity that made him one of the top-ten talk-radio hosts in the United States. This audacious
and urgently needed book provides energy and inspiration for a beleaguered free-market system poised for its unstoppable comeback.
Every American benefits every day from the phenomenal productivity of the free market, so why do so many people feel guilty or skeptical about our business system? In this passionately argued, eye-opening book, talk-radio star and bestselling author Michael Medved provides detailed and devastating rebuttals to the most widely circulated smears against capitalism.
MYTH: Big business is bad, small business is good.
TRUTH: Every big business began life as a small business, and every small business today yearns for enough success to become a big business tomorrow. For some products—like cars or electrical power—little companies can’t benefit their workers or customers as reliably as huge corporations.
MYTH: Business executives are overpaid and corrupt.
TRUTH: Top leaders will always command top dollar, and a company can’t limit executive pay without limiting its access to talent. Ferocious, long-term competition in the corporate world ultimately rewards focus and hard work, not short cuts and corruption.
MYTH: You can count on better treatment from the government than from business.
TRUTH: If a private company deals with you poorly, you can take your business elsewhere. But with the government’s power, you get only two choices: compliance or jail.
Medved responds to business-bashing lies with the slashing wit, irrefutable facts, fascinating historical nuggets, illuminating anecdotes, and liberating clarity that made him one of the top-ten talk-radio hosts in the United States. This audacious
and urgently needed book provides energy and inspiration for a beleaguered free-market system poised for its unstoppable comeback.
Audio
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Michael Medved
43 books86 followersAmerican radio show host, author, political commentator, and film critic.
MICHAEL MEDVED’s daily three-hour radio program, The Michael Medved Show, reaches five million listeners on more than three hundred stations coast to coast.
He is the author of twelve other books, including the bestsellers The 10 Big Lies About America, Hollywood vs. America, Hospital, and What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?
He is a member of USA Today’s board of contributors, is a former chief film critic for the New York Post, and, for more than a decade, cohosted Sneak Previews, the weekly movie-review show on PBS. Medved is an honors graduate of Yale with departmental honors in American history. He lives with his family in the Seattle area.
MICHAEL MEDVED’s daily three-hour radio program, The Michael Medved Show, reaches five million listeners on more than three hundred stations coast to coast.
He is the author of twelve other books, including the bestsellers The 10 Big Lies About America, Hollywood vs. America, Hospital, and What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?
He is a member of USA Today’s board of contributors, is a former chief film critic for the New York Post, and, for more than a decade, cohosted Sneak Previews, the weekly movie-review show on PBS. Medved is an honors graduate of Yale with departmental honors in American history. He lives with his family in the Seattle area.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 12, 2023
What a good read! This is my second Michael Medved book and I’m a bit disappointed he hasn’t written more! Like the total suggests, Medved goes through five falsehoods about American business and, with ease, tears them down. Medved doesn’t waste the reader’s time and just goes straight to the point!
June 22, 2013
This is a book about a topic I care about, and I agree with many of the fundamental points made. Despite that, it is very hard to recommend.
The author is in talk radio, and the book reads a lot more like a listening to bad talk radio than anything else. There is less argument and information here, and more anecdote and invective.
The book also takes the easy way out of blaming the media for things when the media itself operates in a relatively free market and responds to the same demand signals as other businesses. We get the media we deserve - that is the media we choose to purchase and consume.
Overall, this was not a satisfying read. Some parts were interesting, and some stories were even on point. But there has to be a much better way to learn about these issues than reading this book.
The author is in talk radio, and the book reads a lot more like a listening to bad talk radio than anything else. There is less argument and information here, and more anecdote and invective.
The book also takes the easy way out of blaming the media for things when the media itself operates in a relatively free market and responds to the same demand signals as other businesses. We get the media we deserve - that is the media we choose to purchase and consume.
Overall, this was not a satisfying read. Some parts were interesting, and some stories were even on point. But there has to be a much better way to learn about these issues than reading this book.
June 12, 2018
Great book. I start to believe these lies myself after awhile. Now, how to get our liberal friends to read this?
November 18, 2021
It's good, but not one of Medved's best. I am a huge Michael Medved fan.
January 29, 2014
Somehow, reading a book with which you are in perfect agreement is not stimulating but, rather, rewarding. It's rewarding in the sense that it at least reconfirms your beliefs to yourself.
That was my experience with this book. A comparable book from the other side of the economic divide by Garbraith was more entertaining for me because it challenged me by presenting economic positions with which I disagreed in such a manner that I had to formulate arguments to it even as I read.
I only wish those who disagree with me would read Medved's book; he presents his arguments very well.
That was my experience with this book. A comparable book from the other side of the economic divide by Garbraith was more entertaining for me because it challenged me by presenting economic positions with which I disagreed in such a manner that I had to formulate arguments to it even as I read.
I only wish those who disagree with me would read Medved's book; he presents his arguments very well.
August 6, 2010
It will change the way you veiw big business. Michael Medved uses straight forward facts to unravel some common misconceptions about big business. If you like his radio show you will love this book.
January 12, 2014
Medved sometimes puts up intentional exaggerations in this book. It has some sections that could be cut out in large detail. All the same, it's a good read for anyone with an interest in economics (even in passing, like myself).
October 18, 2015
Great book, however I wish the author would have addressed some of the distortions of free markets such as "Crony-Capitalism".
December 9, 2010
The book made all the arguments that I thought about but could not articulate.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews