An informed and measured exploration of the myriad harms billionaires impose.
How the ultrawealthy are ruining our economy, society, and planet, and what we might be able to do about it.
Collins, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, specifically calls out billionaires in the title of his latest book, but his focus encompasses “households that are in the top one-tenth of 1 percent,” those with more than $40 million in assets, the approximate point at which “wealth translates into levels of influence and power that distort democracy.” Collins argues that, regardless of how generous or admired individuals within this class may be, the collective actions and existence of billionaires contribute to the worsening of almost every aspect of life. For the past several decades, workers have shared increasingly less in the productivity gains of their ever-wealthier employers, one of several mechanisms allowing fewer people to amass the majority of society’s wealth. Taxation reform, especially President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, have shrunk what the wealthy pay, particularly the once-robust estate tax. These and other public policies “have enriched asset owners at the expense of wage earners,” enabling family dynasties and individuals to amass eye-boggling fortunes far beyond what’s possible by mere salary alone. The enduring myth of meritocracy furthers the misperception that billionaires deserve their riches—and that the poor deserve their misfortune. Ultrawealthy donors funnel huge amounts of money into super PACs for favored candidates and then lean on elected officials to pass policies favorable to billionaires. The world’s richest people, through their polluting companies and super-yachts, also contribute an outsize amount to worsening climate change; Collins writes that “the emissions of the top 1 percent will cause 1.3 million excess deaths due to heat between 2020 and 2030.” Numerous charts and comic illustrations pepper the text. Collins offers many straightforward, if not simple, solutions for reversing the “billionaire burn” at both personal and governmental levels. However, political developments in the United States may be pushing even the most sensible reforms further out of reach.
An informed and measured exploration of the myriad harms billionaires impose.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781620979099
Page Count: 240
Publisher: The New Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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