We are surrounded by medical miracles: polio has been eradicated; childhood leukemia is now treatable; death by cardiovascular disease has declined by two-thirds in the last fifty years. Yet while American medicine has never been better, angst over American health care has never been greater. Why is American health care such a mess? In this path-breaking book--Nobel laureate Milton Friedman calls it "fascinating and thorough"--Dr. David Gratzer goes to the heart of the problem, showing tha...

If Barack Obama has his way, the American health care system is headed for a train wreck. In this vital expose, Dr. David Gratzer reveals how a government takeover by Washington will put a massive new bureaucracy between doctors and patients, create rationing, and kill the spirit of innovation that has made American high tech medicine a world leader in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Dr. Gratzer, a first-hand witness of the failures of Canada’s healthcare system, shows why soci...

A brilliant new reading of the economic crisis—and a plan for dealing with the challenge of its aftermath—by one of our most trenchant and informed experts.When the nation’s economy foundered in 2008, blame was directed almost universally at Wall Street. But Robert B. Reich suggests a different reason for the meltdown, and for a perilous road ahead. He argues that the real problem is structural: it lies in the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top, and in a middl...

Essays on the dangers of the wealth and income gap, collected by the New York Times–bestselling author of It's Even Worse Than You Think.This collection includes writings by a wide range of voices—including Adam Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Ehrenreich, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Studs Terkel, Paul Krugman, Barack Obama, and David Cay Johnston—illuminating the reality of economic inequality in America, where in spite of the fury that followed the 2008...

Has capitalism failed?Is it fundamentally greedy and immoral, enabling the rich to get richer? Are free markets Darwinian places where the most ruthless crush smaller competitors, where vital products and services are priced beyond the ability of many people to afford them?Capitalism is the world's greatest economic success story. It is the most effective way to provide for the needs of people and foster the democratic and moral values of a free society. Yet ...

In today’s world, there are many hot-button topics that generate equal parts debate and confusion. At the top of that list is healthcare. For most Americans, finding out “the truth” about current problems or possible fixes is virtually impossible amidst all the emotionally charged rhetoric. Dr. Tim Johnson has been reporting on health matters for ABC since the mid-seventies, but in recent years he has spent an increasing amount of time studying our system of healthcare—or lack thereof. Man...

A very common socialist claim is that the free market leads to economic monopolies, and it is the governments' duty to protect consumers from "unreasonably" high prices set by monopolists. The purpose of this essay is to explain in simple words, why consumers should not be protected from the market, but rather from state monopolies.Consumers must not be protected from Microsoft and Facebook, but they should be protected from public utilities, or any other state monopolies. This doc...

From Steve Forbes, the iconic editor in chief of Forbes Media, and Elizabeth Ames coauthors of How Capitalism Will Save Us—comes a new way of thinking about the role of government and the morality of free markets.Americans today are at a turning point. Are we a country founded on the values of freedom and limited government, as envisioned by the founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Or...

A leading economist's exploration of what our economic arrangements might look like if we applied basic principles without ideological blinders.There is nothing wrong with economics, Dean Baker contends, but economists routinely ignore their own principles when it comes to economic policy. What would policy look like if we took basic principles of mainstream economics seriously and applied them consistently? In the debate over regulation, for example, Baker—one of ...

The Washington Post**'s must-read guide to the health care overhaulWhat now? Despite the rancorous, divisive, year-long debate in Washington, many Americans still don't understand what the historic overhaul of the health care system will -- or won't -- mean. In Landmark, the national reporting staff of The Washington Post pierces through the confusion, examining the new law's likely impact on us all: our families, doctors, hospitals, heal...

The fight against ObamaCare is just beginning. The new health law, signed on March 23, 2010, destroys our constitutional rights. For the first time in history, the federal government will dictate how doctors treat their privately insured patients. That will affect you, no matter what brand-name health plan you have. Worse, some hospitals will stop taking Medicare. Where will seniors go?Advocates for women’s rights need to reassess ObamaCare. Whether you are a man or a woman, pro-ch...

Elaina George, MD, is an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist practicing in Atlanta, Georgia. "All I ever wanted to do was be a doctor. Taking the time to sit with a patient, get to know what makes them who they are in order to help them is the foundation of good medicine." Big Insurance, Big Pharma and now Big Medicine describes the movement from individulaized medicine to corporate healthcare which relies on population based medicine which will mean a one size fits all approa...