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J. David Mcswane

Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick Hardcover – April 12 2022

by J. David McSwane (Author)

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“This startling, vital book deserves our attention.” —San Francisco Chronicle

For readers of War Dogs and Bad Blood, an explosive look inside the rush to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic, from the award-winning ProPublica reporter who saw it firsthand.

The United States federal government has spent over $10 billion on medical protective wear and emergency supplies, yet as COVID-19 swept the nation, life-saving equipment such as masks, gloves, and ventilators was nearly impossible to find.

In this brilliant nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter J. David McSwane takes us behind the scenes to reveal how traders, contractors, and healthcare companies used one of the darkest moments in American history to fill their pockets. Determined to uncover how this was possible, he spent over a year on private jets and in secret warehouses, traveling from California to Chicago to Washington DC, to interview both the most treacherous of profiteers and the victims of their crimes.

Pandemic, Inc. is the story of the fraudster who signed a multi-million-dollar contract with the government to provide lifesaving PPE, and yet never came up with a single mask. The Navy admiral at the helm of the national hunt for additional medical resources. The Department of Health whistleblower who championed masks early on and was silenced by the government and conservative media. And the politician who callously slashed federal emergency funding and gutted the federal PPE stockpile.

Winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, McSwane connects the dots between backdoor deals and the spoils systems to provide the definitive account of how this pandemic was so catastrophically mishandled. Shocking and revelatory, Pandemic, Inc. exposes a system that is both deeply rigged, and singularly American.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Atria/One Signal Publishers
Publication date

April 12 2022
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.79 x 22.86 cm
ISBN-10

1982177748
ISBN-13

978-1982177744
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"Revelatory... Laugh-out-loud funny. If the whole story weren’t so tragically and disgustingly real, “Pandemic Inc.” could be mistaken as the script for a “Saturday Night Live” skit. But embedded in the mirth is a wholesale indictment of this toxic brew of unfettered capitalism and greed."
—The Washington Post

"A distressing and important book"
—Stephanie Ruhle, MSNBC

"[Pandemic Inc.] isn’t so much a story about a virus as a tale about America"
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A deep dive...there are lessons to learn from this."
—The Daily Beast

"A justifiably indignant investigation into the financial malfeasance and outright swindling that accompanied the Trump administration’s botched handing of the Covid-19 pandemic... Revealing one outrage after another, McSwane's book should prompt congressional review and systemic reform."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"McSwane's unravelling of corporate, government, and private shenanigans during the COVID-19 crisis packs a tremendous wallop because the pandemic has impacted everyone to various degrees."
—Booklist (starred review)

"[An] eye-opening investigation...Lucid analysis and dogged reporting make this a startling exposé of how unfettered capitalism, startup culture, and government corruption exacerbated the worst effects of the pandemic."
—Publishers Weekly

"Pandemic, Inc. is a triumph of investigative reporting and a rollercoaster of a story. With blunt prose and a novelist's eye, McSwane takes readers inside private jets and dirty warehouses to expose all manner of crazy and criminal enterprise— and the result is stranger than fiction."
—Ken Armstrong, Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter and coauthor of Unbelievable

"Pandemic, Inc. is a witty, angry propulsive narrative, and a profound exercise in accountability. Its lessons—how and why fraud invaded so many corners of America's crisis response—are critical to understanding why the richest nation on earth suffered so grievously in this plague. I couldn't put it down."
—Diana B. Henriques, New York Times bestselling author of The Wizard of Lies

“McSwane’s book is two vital stories of the global pandemic, masterfully woven together: An infuriating account of how ill-prepared the Trump Administration was and the often-hilarious romp into the strange world of grifters and opportunists who tried to seize advantage.”
—Jesse Eisinger, Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter and author of The Chickenshit Club

"J. David McSwane's relentless reporting could have produced a jaw-dropping work of history. Instead, the merciless fraud he exposes ensured continuing losses. Corruption spread as swiftly as the virus, and we're in McSwane's debt for exposing a horrific waste of money—and lives."
—Charlotte Bismuth, author of Bad Medicine and former prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney's office

About the Author

J. David McSwane is a reporter in ProPublica’s DC office. Previously, he was an investigative reporter for The Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman. McSwane’s reporting has spurred new laws, state and federal criminal investigations, and forced belt-tightening lawmakers to invest in social programs. He has won numerous awards, including Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize, a Scripps Howard Award, two Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards, and the Peabody.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria/One Signal Publishers (April 12 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982177748
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982177744
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 476 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.79 x 22.86 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #399,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #254 in Government Management
- #684 in 21st Century U.S. History
- #684 in United States 21st Century History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
153 ratings

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J. David Mcswane

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J. David McSwane is a reporter in ProPublica’s DC office. Previously, he was an investigative reporter for The Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman. McSwane’s reporting has spurred new laws, state and federal criminal investigations, and forced belt-tightening lawmakers to invest in social programs. He has won numerous awards, including Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize, a Scripps Howard Award, two Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards, and the Peabody.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

153 global ratings

5 star		68%
4 star		17%
3 star		8%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from Canada

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JLG

Good book but....

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 13, 2022

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I enjoyed this book....

Here in Canada, we had the same profiteers, bandits and crooks taking advantage of hastily deployed "cash out the door ASAP" programs that resulted in hundreds of millions of wasted dollars going to people who didn't qualify. Money that will never be collected and will have to be written off at taxpayers' expense.

Having said that, I was annoyed when the author differentiated between black and white folks by capitalizing the "b" for Black folks and a small "w" for white folks. He either should have used capitals for both or none at all. Perhaps this was the editor's doing as opposed to the author'? - I don't know.
Last time I checked we are ALL equal.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

John D Shepherd

Learn from the past to avoid the same mistakes in the future

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 19, 2022

Reading a copy of the book borrowed from a Canadian public library, I must say that I am impressed. The book is well written and researched.
In the case of the USA, there is a hope due to the level of detail concerning the federal government response that the same mistakes will not be made when the next pandemic arrives on our shores. When the next pandemic arrives, not if. COVID-19 is not the worse case scenario.
A million lives have been lost to date, in the USA. Families ripped apart by the loss of a parent (or two), a brother, cousin (or several), or grandparent (or two).
Many of these tragic losses were avoidable. What matters were the decisions made, why they were made, and how they were implemented. It is clear that decision makers ignored hard won lessons from past epidemics.
Unfortunately, similar disclosure of successes and mistakes is not available for Canada's federal and provincial governments. Canada's track record, while somewhat better than that of the USA, is nothing to brag about. Undoubtedly, many of the same mistakes were made in Canada.
The difference is that Canadian mistakes have never been made public. No one can learn from mistakes if public does not know that they were made.

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Todd

Glad the thieves got caught; not sure why capitalists got blamed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 15, 2022

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I really liked that the author went after thieves who tried to cheat the system when the country was in a time of desperation. I personally can't stand people who try to profit off of others' pain. The preceding said, I'm not sure why the author was intent on blaming capitalists as well. This book is primarily a supply chain book on N95 masks and how bad actors tried to cheat the system. It has really nothing to do with capitalists. It's mainly there are bad people and regardless of system, they will do bad things. Additionally, my guess is that China, Russia, Cuba and other Marxists countries did much worse during the pandemic than the US. In fact, it was the capitalists who created the vaccines in record times that saved the country. It was the capitalists (think Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix) that allowed us to work and communicate and get goods and entertain ourselves during a pandemic. (Keep in mind no other country has close to the number of great companies that the US has. This is simply because we have incentives to make people want to work hard.) I'm glad the author helped catch the thieves but blaming capitalism for it is misguided and something he didn't support with evidence.

23 people found this helpful

John Doe

Infuriating and hilarious

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 14, 2022

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I wish this story didn't need to be written, but I'm glad it was. The story is enraging, but hilarious too, reading like gonzo journalism for grown-ups. Highly recommend.

17 people found this helpful

Book Shark

Drags a Bit but Ultimately Delivers

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick by J. David McSwane

“Pandemic, Inc.” an expose of those who took advantage of a global pandemic to enrich themselves at the expense of a desperate public. Investigative reporter J. David McSwane goes behind the curtain to investigate the crooked networks of brokers, scammers, investors and profiteers who went out of their way to enrich themselves. He also examines the inept response from the Trump administration. This revelatory 328-page book includes twenty-three chapters and an epilogue.

Positives:
1. Solid investigative journalism led to this book. Good use of humor, and its engaging style will reel readers in.
2. The fascinating topic of the pandemic industry.
3. Provides the author’s purpose of the book upfront. “My goal in writing this book is twofold. First, to make some sense of the larger system churning over our heads and its role in our nation’s missteps—that is to say, unfettered capitalism and its byproduct, greed. Second, for posterity.”
4. Provocative statements. “How did the most advanced, the wealthiest country in the world, with just 4 percent of the global population, at one point come to account for one in five COVID deaths and nearly a quarter of all cases worldwide?”
5. Does a good job of retelling the COVID-19 story. “On March 11, the WHO made it official: COVID-19 was a global pandemic.”
6. Mismanagement by Trump’s Administration, fake cures. “At the same time Navarro and Hatfill worked out the Phlow deal, Navarro’s team was also trying to secure a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak, the photography company, to help produce hydroxychloroquine.”
7. Mismanagement of funds. “I connected with as many of these brokers as I could and was shocked to learn that, during this particular time in lockdown, people were wiring fortunes to strangers based on little else than a grainy video.”
8. Explains the three-step process to riches. “Step One: Get a purchase order from a desperate government agency. Step Two: Use the purchase order to get financing from private investors. Step Three: Buy masks from China.”
9. Differences between blue and red states in handling the pandemic. “In California, a blue state, residents were militant about masks, even in open-air situations. In Texas, a red state, people were galvanized against the oppression of a basic, if inconvenient, public health measure.
10. How scoundrels tricked users into buying masks not suitable for hospitals. “Comparing Rivera’s photo and TDEM’s, the packages were identical but for the important words that were missing from the final packaging: “MEDICAL USE PROHIBITED.”
11. Describes poorly run states like Texas by their governor, Abbott. “In his unbearable way, Jones and others spread fear that Jade Helm was a precursor to the martial law takeover of the United States at the direction of Obama, a sort of Trojan horse. Such folderol could be expected to dissipate, but in one of his first acts as governor, Abbott validated the fringe of his party and the rampant conspiracy theories spreading online. He ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor the situation—that is, somehow watch over the Pentagon—“to address concerns of Texas citizens and to ensure that Texas communities remain safe, secure, and informed…””
12. Uncovers many troubling transactions that occurred during the pandemic. “Several studies would show that banks favored wealthy white borrowers at the expense of minority companies in dire need of assistance.”
13. Exposes lucrative lies. “In one breath, Kennedy managed to evoke our deepest societal fears and resentments and associate them with outlandish fantasies such as that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had sneaked microchips into the vaccine or that COVID-19 was actually caused by the advent of 5G cellular infrastructure.”
14. Exposes disseminators of lies. “Before social media companies began to crack down on vaccine misinformation in 2021, Kennedy and the nonprofit boasted almost 2 million followers across platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, according to an analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an international nonprofit that tracks the online spread of racist propaganda and medical misinformation.”
15. Describes how big pharmaceutical companies cashed in on the pandemic. “After raising more than $2 billion, Moderna hauled in another $600 million in its initial public stock offering. In January 2020, before announcing it was working on a COVID vaccine, the company was worth around $6 billion. BioNtech also went public in the fall of 2019, raising a more modest $150 million, for a total valuation of about $3.4 billion.” “The boom in biotech and healthcare stocks created at least forty new billionaires who had ties to companies that gained from COVID-19, Forbes magazine would report in April 2021.”
16. The devastation of the pandemic.
17. Describes cases of accountability. “The first count, making false statements to the federal government, stemmed from what I reported along our hapless journey in late April 2020. The U.S. prosecutor discovered Stewart had explicitly stated in emails to FEMA and the VA that he had millions of N95 masks in his possession. As a result of those lies, he was awarded two no-bid contracts, together worth $38.5 million.”
18. Notes included.

Negatives:
1. The book overpromised.
2. Lack of charts and visual material that would have added much needed depth to this book.
3. The book is slow at times, it drags.
4. Should have done a better job of presenting the facts. Once again, charts and diagrams would have helped make his case clearer particularly to the more visual readers.
5. Should have done a better job of describing of what it takes to get a government contract through and how scoundrels are held accountable.
6. I wanted more clearly stated facts.

In summary, I wanted to like this more than I actually did. The search for the truth dragged a bit and the reader has to pay a price for that. Ultimately, the author does deliver and through the journey makes interesting revelations of how opportunists take advantage of chaos to enrich themselves and how some are caught and held accountable. Average to good book, a marginal recommendation.

Further recommendations: “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic” by Bill Gates, “Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science” by Peter J. Hotez, “The Great Influenza” by John M. Barry, “Pandemic 1918” by Catharine Arnold, “Flu” by Gina Kolata, and “Influenza” by Jeremy Brown.

4 people found this helpful

Rachel in OR

A must-read for all Americans

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

I hope this book will serve as a cautionary tale for future generations on what *not* to do in a global health crisis. McSwane paints a picture of the US at its worst- guided by greed and profits at the expense of American lives. Reading this book, it was impossible to not stop and contemplate how many lives could have been saved if not for the failures and ineptitude of catastrophic proportions that McSwane details. The story unfolds a bit like a thriller, with snappy, witty writing that will make you laugh out loud, in spite of the grim tale being told. Some of these stories have already led to legal action, and I hope that there is more to come. Investigative journalism is essential to hold our institutions accountable, and I’m grateful for McSwane and others who have dedicated their lives to bringing truth to power. Can’t recommend this book enough!

4 people found this helpful

Hiker65

Disappointing, Politicized Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

I very much looked forward to this book about our nation's response to the COVID pandemic. Although much of what is said might be true, the account is packed with political comments from beginning to end. That ultimately clouds what the author tries to share. The tragic nature of the pandemic over months and months of confusion deserves more objectivity.

2 people found this helpful

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