The Fine Print
How Big Companies Use 'Plain English' to Rob You Blind
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Narrated by:
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Todd McLaren
About this listen
David Cay Johnston has made a name for himself as the defender of the common man, calling out the rich and powerful for cheating the system at the expense of everyone else. Whether he's exposing unjust loopholes in the tax code that help the rich get richer or pointing out how powerful corporations pocket government subsidies at excessive taxpayer expense, Johnston is an eloquent town crier for justice and equality.
Now this best-selling author has turned his attention to the sneaky stipulations hidden in the fine print of just about every contract and government rule. Johnston has been known to whip out a utility bill - any utility bill - and explain line by line what all that mumbo jumbo actually means (and it doesn't mean anything good, unless you happen to be the utility company). Within all that jargon, disclosed in accordance with all requirements to you, the unsuspecting customer, lie the tools many companies use to rob you blind. Even worse is what's missing - all the contractually binding clauses that companies hide elsewhere, yet still enforce.
The Fine Print is essential listening for anyone who wants to wrest power back from devious corporations and end their longstanding consumer abuse.
©2011 David Cay Johnston (P)2012 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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William D. Cohan is no knee-jerk advocate for Wall Street and the big banks. He's one of America's most respected financial journalists and the progressive best-selling author of House of Cards. He has long been critical of the bad behavior that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and because he spent 17 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, he is an expert on its inner workings as well.
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An Inch Deep and A Mile Wide
- By Doug Sheridan on 04-26-17
By: William D. Cohan
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Hostile Takeover
- Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America
- By: Matt Kibbe
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Hostile Takeover is a rebellious challenge to the "upper management" of government, who are choking American prosperity and liberty. Matt Kibbe exposes the privileged collusion of Washington insiders - and maps out a proven plan for how to return power from the self-appointed "experts" back to the people. Dubbed "one of the Tea Party's masterminds" by Newsweek, Kibbe reveals how grassroots citizens can and will check the federal behemoth and restore the American enterprise.
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An amazing book from an interesting perspective
- By Aaron on 12-28-12
By: Matt Kibbe
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A Capitalism for the People
- Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity
- By: Luigi Zingales
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in Italy, University of Chicago economist Luigi Zingales witnessed firsthand the consequences of high inflation and unemployment - paired with rampant nepotism and cronyism - on a country’s economy. This experience profoundly shaped his professional interests, and in 1988 he arrived in the United States, armed with a political passion and the belief that economists should not merely interpret the world, but should change it for the better.
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Enjoyable but a tad predictable.
- By Kevin on 12-24-12
By: Luigi Zingales
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An Extraordinary Time
- The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy
- By: Marc Levinson
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping reappraisal of the last sixty years of world history, An Extraordinary Time describes how the postwar economic boom dissipated, undermining faith in government, destabilizing the global financial system, and forcing us to come to terms with how tumultuous our economy really is.
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Good review of crucial turning point in history
- By Philo on 11-22-16
By: Marc Levinson
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The Great American Stick Up
- Greedy Bankers and the Politicians Who Love Them
- By: Robert Scheer
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Instead of going where other journalists have gone in search of this story - the board rooms and trading floors of the big Wall Street firms - Scheer goes back to Washington, D.C., a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal.
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A great telling of an unfortunate part of history
- By Trace on 10-27-20
By: Robert Scheer
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Who Stole My Pension?
- How You Can Stop the Looting
- By: Robert T. Kiyosaki, Edward Siedle
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s estimated that there are over 50 million pensioners - in the United States alone. Like the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Germany and many other countries around the world are all in big trouble when it comes to the solvency of their pension funds. Who Stole My Pension? was written to give them guidance, resources, and tools so they can take action...and stop the looting.
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Very Eye Opening
- By Matt on 01-12-22
By: Robert T. Kiyosaki, and others
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The Instant Economist
- Everything You Need to Know About How the Economy Works
- By: Timothy Taylor
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Economics isn't just about numbers: It's about politics, psychology, history, and so much more. We are all economists - when we work, save for the future, invest, pay taxes, and buy our groceries. Yet many of us feel lost when the subject arises. Award-winning professor Timothy Taylor here tackles all the key questions and hot topics of both microeconomics and macroeconomics, so you can understand and discuss economics on a personal, national, and global level.
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Timothy Taylor is the best
- By Jake on 02-15-15
By: Timothy Taylor
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New Deal or Raw Deal?
- How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America
- By: Burton Folsom Jr.
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In this shocking and groundbreaking new book, economic historian Burton Folsom, Jr., exposes the idyllic legend of Franklin D. Roosevelt as a myth of epic proportions. With questionable moral character and a vendetta against the business elite, Roosevelt created New Deal programs marked by inconsistent planning, wasteful spending, and opportunity for political gain---ultimately elevating public opinion of his administration but falling flat in achieving the economic revitalization that America needed.
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A must listen!
- By Book and Movie Lover on 06-14-09
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Bought and Paid For
- The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street
- By: Charles Gasparino
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
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Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
What listeners say about The Fine Print
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Steven Schuster
- 07-27-13
How the Corporatocracy is Gouging U.S. Citizens
Ever wonder why your cable and phone bill goes up every year while your wages are stagnant here in the U.S.A. Or how people's pensions ended up in the pockets of millionaire CEO s after working for a large corporation for 30 years?
This is an interesting and important book written by a veteran reporter about how the corporatocracy is ripping everybody off here in the USA. That's if you would rather know the truth about what goes on, then see the latest photos of Anthony Weiner's peter, or who the Kardashians are sleeping with.
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- Austin
- 11-02-15
Long winded, decent information
Would you listen to The Fine Print again? Why?
I would listen to specific chapters on tax law that I found interesting. David Johnson has solid information on the subject in most cases.
What aspect of Todd McLaren’s performance would you have changed?
He speaks without affliction or energy. He sounds the same saying something substantial as he does reiterating something for the 10th time.
What did you learn from The Fine Print that you would use in your daily life?
The book is designed to open your eyes, and when it comes to tax law it does in a sense. However its so heavily riddled with filler around these events that what could have been a very well written and informative 4 hour book became a 12 hour nightmare I struggled to finish.
Any additional comments?
I get it you want to shame corporations and drive home a point by calling out warren buffet's managers, I just don't agree with that approach being ethical. It's not that this book is bad, the information is just so trite, and the call to action at the end is far from anything new. Leaving a reader hopeless and frustrated. Recommend this to your angry father in law if you want to hear about it over the next 5 years at dinner parties.
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- Rob D
- 04-19-17
A must listen if you love or hate Trump
This book along with his others lays out how we've distorted our "free markets" and why we've seen jobs eviscerated.
Get informed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Alain R Gardner
- 12-21-22
The Infuriating Reasons We The People Get Screwed At Every Turn
Could be the subtitle for this book. We have to stop watching the Kardashian’s prance around and start paying attention to the politicians. It occurred to me when I listened to this book that when a politician says “government should be run like a business’” he is really saying it should be run like the business he plans to work for after he is done extracting the last bit of personal benefit from working for the government.
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