Book excerpt: Americans are being lied to ... We are lied to by our government, misled by the entertainment media, indoctrinated by our educational institutions, defrauded by our banking institutions, and subjugated by our employers. Nevertheless, we willingly grant these institutions power over nearly every aspect of our lives, and we even admire and assist those who are exploiting us. What is the purpose of the lies? To con each and every one of us out of our property rights, and to coerce us into consenting to our own fleecing--while venerating and revering the thieves. This is true no matter if one is truly poor, or one is a member of the upper-middle class. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, Latino, Asian, straight, gay, lesbian, Democrat, Republican, employee, manager, small-business owner, or greyhound dog. No matter how you earn your living, all those in the middle class have one thing in common. Like the greyhounds in a dog race, we have all been duped into pursuing an illusion, a goal that has been held in front of us as "The American Dream," a goal that has been deliberately rendered unattainable. This is because the act itself of "chasing the rabbit" is what enriches those few who benefit from our daily economic activity. Making the rabbit uncatchable ensures that we can never stop running after it. If you're a parent who cares about your children's future, if you're elderly and burdened with constant worry about surviving on a fixed income from social security, if you're a small business owner drowning in the quicksand of onerous taxes and crippling regulation, if you're a college student or recent graduate crippled with student loan debt--struggling or even unable to find a decent paying job, or if you're simply fed up with government lies and propaganda touting false hope and change for greater economic prosperity, financial security, and opportunity--all of which remain perpetually out of reach ... ...within these pages, you will learn what you can do about it.