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Cleptopía (2012)

by Matt Taibbi(Favorite Author)

4.19 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Lengua de Trapo

review 1: I read the book on the recommendation of a good friend who loaned it to me. He worries that I get too much of my political information from right-wing publishers and news sources, and he is correct on that count. And so he pushes a book on me whose opening is a vigorous ad hominem attack on conservative politicians and commentators. I thought to myself then, this is going to be a long, unenjoyable, immature rant. It turns out that I was wrong.Matt Taibbi is an equal-opportunity basher. I found that rarely does anyone in the public eye appear in his book without providing some crude disparagement of him. Why even when he agrees with the person he's referring to he'll say something like, "Mr. Jones, that blankety-blank so-and-so who is such a _____ at least got it righ... moret when he said..." Maybe it's some weird Jersey City thing, but I think that even though it carries some entertainment value, it makes his book a little less serious, which is a shame because he's dealing with some extremely serious topics.Here's the book in a nutshell from page 177, and the idea that I take away from the book and value: ... a nation that perceives itself as being divided into red and blue should start paying attention to a third color that rules the day in Washington - a sort of puke-colored politics that puts together deals like this one and succeeds largely through its mastery of the captial city's bureacracy. The defining characteristic of puke politics is that if it must have government at all, the government should be purposefully ineffectual almost across the board in terms of the functions we usually ascribe to the state and really only compentent in one area, and that's giving away tax-payer money in return for campaign contributions.And he's right, and he makes a good case for this being the case in all the recent bubble blow-ups of the economy from which many lower and middle class people are left struggling and many financial operators and politicians have enriched themselves. His outrage and anger will become part of the reader's emotions, too, because of the attitude with which these powerful people treat the system as their own with no concern for the commoner. After reading through the book I am now better informed, better aware of right-wing scoundrels, and more immune to some appeals for deregulation that actually make the economy less of a competitive marketplace. I take strong exception to a few things, though. Taibbi paints all conservatives as being motivated by racist attitudes, and I take offense at that. He also buys into the falsehood that all Evangelical Christians are uneducated slobs who take their marching orders from hate radio and Fox News. He also berates conservatives for being too tied to Constitutional principles to be sufficiently pragmatic and problem-solving, though I am convinced that a return to our founding principles would solve many of the nations problems. Another shortcoming of the book is the constant vulgarity; I can't see how this can make us more in an uproar against the injustices that have occurred than the facts before us. And I wish he had backed up some of his assertions with footnotes and references, as well as provide some charts and graphics for analysis. To make the book a little less potty-mouthed and a little more grown up would have been helfpul.The important topic so well explained would easily earn the book a 4-star rating from me, but the shortcomings I listed above bring it down to 3 stars for me. Still, I would recommend the book, especially to others like myself needing to have their eyes opened to perspectives and explanations outside of the official Republican spokesmen and their allies.
review 2: Matt Taibbi has done his usual superb job of investigative reporting with this book. Not only does he cogently explain the ins and outs of all the economic finagling that has gone on in the recent past, he goes into great detail to explain how nothing has really changed in the post-"great recession" America.In fact, if anything, things in the financial "industry"/sector are even worse. Of course, the next crash is going to have even more dire consequences. He writes about some pretty complicated stuff, but always manages to present it to the reader in basic language. Matt Taibbi's writing always brings to mind the phrase "High Dudgeon", but he also uses humor, irony, and satire, to great effect. I have this book on my Kindle, so will be re-reading it in the near future. A good companion book to this is "The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap" by Matt Taibbi and Molly Crabapple, which I have also read recently and will be reviewing here as well. less

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