Fleeced!: How we've been betrayed by the politicians, bureaucrats and bankers - and how much they've cost us

Description

Over the past decade some 3 trillion - equivalent to 50,000 for every person in Britain - has been taken from us by the ruling elites. Half was wasted in a splurge of poorly-managed public spending in the 'boom', while the other half evaporated in the 'bust' - siphoned off by city bonuses, vaporised by a collapse in pension savings and extorted to bail out the banking sector. In their explosive new book, David Craig and Matthew Elliott trace where the money has gone and who has become richer as a result. They name and shame the 'guilty': the incompetent bureaucrats that fail to deliver the services the taxpayer deserves; the multitude of ineffective regulators and watchdogs; the politicians that have betrayed our democracy and enriched themselves; and the self-serving and arrogant city bankers. Moreover, they calculate the enormous debt that awaits the British taxpayer as a result of our rulers' avarice and economic mismanagement. Fleeced! charts the greatest impoverishment and tax swindle of the public in British history.

David Craig has spent most of his career as a management consultant working for and competing against some of the world's best and worst management and IT systems consultancies. He has helped to sell consulting to almost 100 organizations in 15 countries across Europe, Asia and the US, as well as the British public sector. He is the author of the controversial bestsellers Rip-Off!, Plundering the Public Sector and Squandered. He has an MA from Cambridge and an MBA from Warwick Business School. Matthew Elliott is co-founder and Chief Executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, the UK's most high profile campaign group. He has written the Bumper Book of Government Waste and with David Craig has co-authored The Great European Rip-Off.

This book reveals the facts and figures behind the economic mismanagement that landed us in the situation we are today, and shows how we have been betrayed by our politicians, bureaucrats and bankers. A shocking and depressing but necessary read. - Independent on Sunday