Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America

Greedy corporate interests have been lying to us for centuries. Here’s an illustrated, entertaining road map for navigating through their hypocrisy and deception

From praising the health benefits of cigarettes to moralizing on the character-building qualities of child labor, rich corporate overlords have gone to astonishing, often morally indefensible lengths to defend their profits. Since the dawn of capitalism, they’ve told the same lies over and over to explain why their bottom line is always more important than the greater good: You say you want to raise the federal minimum wage? Why, you’ll only make things worse for the very people you want to help! Should we hold polluters accountable for the toxins they’re dumping in our air and water? No, the free market will save us! Can we raise taxes on the rich to pay for universal healthcare? Of course not—that will kill jobs! Affordable childcare? Socialism! It’s always the same tired threats and finger-pointing, in a concentrated campaign to keep wealth and power in the hands of the wealthy and powerful.

Corporate Bullsh*t will help you identify this pernicious propaganda for the wealthiest 1 percent, and teach you how to fight back. Structured around some of the most egregious statements ever made by the rich and powerful, the book identifies six categories of falsehoods that repeatedly thwart progress on issues including civil rights, wealth inequality, climate change, voting rights, gun responsibility, and more. With amazing illustrations and a sharp sense of humor, Corporate Bullsh*t teaches readers how to never get conned, bamboozled, or ripped off ever again.

Nick Hanauer is an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist, the founder of the public policy incubator Civic Ventures, and the host of the podcast Pitchfork Economics. The co-author (with Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen) of Corporate Bullsh*t (The New Press), he lives in Seattle.

Joan Walsh is national affairs correspondent for The Nation, the co-producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show, and the author of What’s the Matter with White People? The co-author (with Nick Hanauer and Donald Cohen) of Corporate Bullsh*t (The New Press), she lives in New York.

Donald Cohen is the founder and executive director of the research and policy center In the Public Interest and the co-author (with Allen Mikaelian) of The Privatization of Everything and (with Nick Hanauer and Joan Walsh) of Corporate Bullsh*t (both from The New Press). He lives in Los Angeles.

ISBN: 9781620977514
Format: Hardback
Pages: 176
Publisher: The New Press
Published: October 31, 2023

Praise for Corporate Bullsh*t:

"Corporate Bullsh*t by Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh, and Donald Cohen performs a useful public service by amassing a wealth of quotations from across 150 years of American social policy to show how a certain set of talking points recurs over and over in the effort to stymie progressive social change."

—Current Affairs

"A welcome user’s guide to maneuvering the thicket of lies that constitutes so much discourse today."

—Kirkus Reviews