Who is Joe Fried?
Joe Fried attended Case Western Reserve University on full scholarship, graduated with an MBA, and was hired as an auditor by Ernst & Young. In 1983 he formed his own firm, from which he retired in 2021. During his 42-year career, Joe performed and supervised countless audits - primarily of nonprofit organizations and governmental programs. For almost 30 years, Joe was an AICPA-authorized peer reviewer. In that capacity he reviewed the accounting and auditing standards of scores of CPA firms.
In 2003, Joe published his first book, How Social Security Picks Your Pocket, which chronicled the waste in the program, and called for a private option for participants. Subsequently, Joe discovered that thousands of teachers in Texas were participating in an illegal scam that cost the Social Security program an estimated 2 billion dollars. (They were pretending to be full-time janitors.) He notified the Social Security Inspector General who replied, “We take your concern seriously and will open an audit ....” Thirteen months later, the audit was done and the IG agreed with Joe’s 64-page analysis, without exception. Before long, however, Joe learned of the power of the teachers’ union, and the weakness of Social Security Administrators, who refused to cut off the phony benefits.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, Joe wrote a unique book called, Who Really Drove the Economy into the Ditch. Unlike other analysts, Joe described the roots of the crisis, which went back to the early days of the Clinton Administration, and its push to eliminate the downpayment requirement for home mortgage loans.
Joe’s new book— Debunked? — is his most controversial and important work yet, as it takes on the sanctity of our vote.
One of Joe’s hobbies is music. As a young man, he performed on his clarinet under Leopold Stokowski in Carnegie Hall, and he still performs occasionally with his wife, Nina, a pianist. He says that the transition from music to business is a long story, best told over a couple of cold beers.
Joe and Nina have been married for over 50 years. Their son, David, is a successful full-stack web designer, working for a military contractor.
If you would like Joe to talk on your podcast, radio show, or TV show, send him an email at joefriedcpa@substack.com.
