Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

Is big business the biggest threat to free markets? Free enterprise in America may be heading the way of the drive-in movie theater or the corner soda fountain - soon to be a quaint relic of the past. Citizens and taxpayers are losing power over their government, and consumers and entrepreneurs are losing control over the economy.

In The Big Ripoff, investigative reporter Timothy Carney argues that the threat to American capitalism may just be the "capitalists" themselves. Many of today's large corporations have mastered the art of working with government officials at every level to stifle competition. By doing so, they are able to reap billions through a complex web of higher taxes, stricter regulations, and shameless government handouts. All too often, both are engaged in a common enterprise of picking the taxpayers' pockets.

TIMOTHY P. CARNEY is a freelance investigative reporter. He has worked under veteran political reporter Bob Novak, served fellowships with the Phillips Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and worked as a reporter at Human Events. Carney has also written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Sun, Washington Times, National Review Online, American Spectator, American Conservative, D.C. Examiner, and several other magazines, newspapers, and Web sites.