refreshingly quick, easy read surely the mark of much hard labor at the keyboard on the world of the high income/high net worth individuals who dominate so much of American society and culture.
Michael Mechanic, a longtime writer for Mother Jones among other superlatives, brings a sensitive journalistic eye to a subject that makes so many see nothing but blinding rage,
Mechanic addresses a surprisingly basic question is it worth it to be filthy stinking rich Americans work themselves into early graves by the hundreds of thousands each year, literally dying to be Rich.
We're not talking owning your own home, paying for your kids' education, and driving new cars every couple of years, We're talking being so rich that people give you stuff for free think Kardashianlevel wealth, For in America, Wealth is actually celebrity,
But Mechanic points out in great detail
but never boring detail that Wealth brings problems, Stress may be the most surprising, Most of us dream of the big payday that will get us out from under our debts good debts, like a mortgage, or student debt, or paying for our parents' elder care.
While the Wealthy do not worry about those, they worry about other things, Will I blow this fortune Do I keep my friends from my former life, or will the wealth gap make things awkward If I can pay for my best friend's medical treatment, should I
Some stresses are surprising.
First, the Wealthy may live in perfect enclaves, but that is to preserve privacy, So the Wealthy may live in an exclusive neighborhood, but they don't have "neighbors" in the traditional sense, Sly Stallone may live down the street from you, but he doesn't want you stopping by, Second, Wealth requires administration. You need accountants, lawyers, and family offices to allow you to live your life free from managing your Wealth every day, But if you trust the wrong advisers too much, you risk losing everything, Third, your kids no longer have any excuse for failure, Nothing but the best for them but are you parenting them, are have you outsourced this to their nannies
This book is not a "how terrible the rich are" book.
Rather, it seeks to look soberly at the life of the Wealthy how they actually live and ask whether it is a worthy goal,
If you've ever pondered how great life would be if thatmillion jackpot came your way, give this book some consideration, Also, if you've ever thought about how much we should be taxing the Wealthy, this is worth another read,
Most importantly, if you've ever told your kid that you're too busy working to play with them, you must read this book, Highly recommended. Well researched, fascinating, infuriating, and important,
It is widely known that wealth inequality is at levels not seen since the Gilded Age, Far less well understood is how the superrich have rigged the system for themselves to further accumulate and hoard wealth, And how utterly pointless and obscene it is for a handful of individuals and families to have accumulated such incomprehensibly vast wealth while the vast majority of people continue to live monthtomonth or under crushing debt.
In “Jackpot”, Michael Mechanic pulls back the curtain on these modern day princes with sound research, direct interviews, and a compelling narrative style,
A quick clarification: the superrich does not include your aunt with a small business andM in assets or your cousin that landed a couple mil working by Airbnb preIPO.
It's the billionaires.
Mechanic does a clever thing in "Jackpot" by spending the first half building a window into the lives of the superrich, He does this largely by interviewing the people that provide services targeted at the billionaire class: yachts, bodyguard/nannies, safe rooms, college admissions, matchmaking, tax avoidance, and so on.
Through this we see that their wealth, in addition to being a destabilizing, world historical inequity, is also in many cases a curse on the superrich, Having so much engenders isolation, alienation, and paranoia, even especially within their families,
Having painted this picture, Mechanic then moves on to enumerating the many structural advantagesfinancial, legal, and socialthat the superrich enjoy and which collectively serve to accelerate the concentration of wealth into their hands.
This is where "Jackpot" becomes truly infuriating,
Many Americans hear criticism of the rich and the rigged system and think it's just sour grapes from jealous havenots, As John Steinbeck said, "in Americathe poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires, " And the billionaire class is more than happy to encourage this belief, to let people think that attempts to reign the billionaires in are actually targeting the lucky few that made their bag by relatively, at least honest, hard work.
Mechanic's profile lays bare the truth: these people have wealth far beyond what one can intuitively comprehend and they are accumulating and protecting it through devious and unjust means.
He shows how this hyperconcentration distorts our democracy and allows the billionaire class to set their own rules, perpetuating and magnifying the problem, He demonstrates how they whitewash their reputations and deflect scrutiny with ostentatious philanthropy, Instead of contributing their fair share to public coffers where the nation's wealth can be democratically controlled, they unilaterally decide who will benefit, and how,
They have become de facto princes, And as Mechanic shows, today's princes very often lack their predecessors' sense of noblesse oblige and even feel entitled to their vast riches,
Even if one feels that it is beneficial or just to have a very wealthy class in society, "Jackpot" makes a very compelling case that the status quo is deeply distorted and there is abundant cause for change.
Reasonable people can and should debate what changes are needed, but Mechanic's greatest success in Jackpot is dispelling any doubt that change is necessary and overdue, Must read in the world of income inequality
What my heard
no matter how you slice it I'm your guy
I'm looking for a way to turn a buck into five
half of American adults with the lottery American spelledbillion dollars inon the lottery upfrom the year before that and that's more than/of the GDP of most Nations it's alsotimes the amount spend each year on the world's books
if you can't take the risks the big money is off limits
you're not going to make a lot of money unless you risk making a lot of money
as aare you can't buy your kids into Yale but they'll be starting off from second base even if you're still flying coach
capital is crucial but hard to obtain it.
you'll find out that your ideal income it's always going to be double what you make
that seems to be true and should give you a lot of anxiety
overtimeof the smart people find out how to get all the power and all the money that's kind of where we are today then there's the redistribution somebody comes in kicks over the ant hill hey cut that s out then they go away and the ants are coming back
wealth x club
I'm in the more money than brains club
life evaluation scores depreciation after your basic needd are met
most of
wealth related social comparisons are particularly toxic as they bring about feelings of inadequacy
most of the research about wealth is not how good the stuff is it's about what the stuff says about how valuable of a person you are
I just don't have that fallacy to cling to
being rich is having money being wealthy is having time
cash rich time poor
to be content with a little is difficult to be content with much is impossible
we tend to compare ourselves to those in our socioeconomic orbit
beggers don't envy billionaires just other beggars who are more successful
we take our cues from people closest to us in our profession
not a chance in China
it's bad optics
I've gathered up enough tails of wall not for one book but two
poorest and brownest
a high conflict scenario
even his gatekeepers have gatekeepers
despite all the do goodery
anyone with wits and Moxie can one day drive that Bentley is the myth that keeps the pitchforks at Bay
I'm a born hype man
black taxe not a talent issue it's a access issue
smart pretty and a young speaker
i have nothing to offer other then hyperbole
we summered in Venice
I borrow and leverage tens of millions of dollars to earn tens of millions more
billionardom
real estate is us
he greets me warmly
can you
i like talking with you because your so quotable.
Access Today Jackpot: How The Super-Rich Really Live—and How Their Wealth Harms Us All Created By Michael Mechanic Made Available In Paperback
Michael Mechanic