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Title details for Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live—and How Their Wealth Harms Us All by Michael Mechanic - Wait list

Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live—and How Their Wealth Harms Us All

by Michael Mechanic
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A senior editor at Mother Jones dives into the lives of the extremely rich, showing the fascinating, otherworldly realm they inhabit—and the insidious ways this realm harms us all.
Have you ever fantasized about being ridiculously wealthy? Probably. Striking it rich is among the most resilient of American fantasies, surviving war and peace, expansions and recessions, economic meltdowns and global pandemics. We dream of the jackpot, the big exit, the life-altering payday, in whatever form that takes. (Americans spent $81 billion on lottery tickets in 2019, more than the GDPs of most nations.) We would escape "essential" day jobs and cramped living spaces, bury our debts, buy that sweet spread, and bail out struggling friends and relations. But rarely do we follow the fantasy to its conclusion—to ponder the social, psychological, and societal downsides of great affluence and the fact that so few possess it.

What is it actually like to be blessed with riches in an era of plagues, political rancor, and near-Dickensian economic differences? How mind-boggling are the opportunities and access, how problematic the downsides? Does the experience differ depending on whether the money is earned or unearned, where it comes from, and whether you are male or female, white or black? Finally, how does our collective lust for affluence, and our stubborn belief in social mobility, explain how we got to the point where forty percent of Americans have literally no wealth at all?

These are all questions that Jackpot sets out to explore. The result of deep reporting and dozens of interviews with fortunate citizens—company founders and executives, superstar coders, investors, inheritors, lottery winners, lobbyists, lawmakers, academics, sports agents, wealth and philanthropy professionals, concierges, luxury realtors, Bentley dealers, and even a woman who trains billionaires' nannies in physical combat, Jackpot is a compassionate, character-rich, perversely humorous, and ultimately troubling journey into the American wealth fantasy and where it has taken us.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 13, 2021

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781982127237

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781982127237
      • File size: 4965 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      February 15, 2021
      Is getting filthy rich really worth it? Mother Jones senior editor Mechanic offers a harsh wake-up call for the millions of American dreamers who still believe that winning the lottery--or just simply having obscene wealth--will change their lives for the better. The author ushers readers past the velvet rope to reveal the lifestyles of the ultrawealthy and the ever more expensive ventures they have to indulge in to not only keep themselves amused, but to outdo their wealthy peers. One of the most interesting factoids in this well-researched book is that, according to one study, a person's "self-reported positive emotions improved with rising earnings up to a satiation point at about $65,000 per year. Negative emotions...declined as earnings increased, reaching an inverse satiation point at $95,000." As Mechanic demonstrates throughout this eye-opening book, once the contentment with one's finances ends, the addiction to "extrinsic" goals--e.g., buying mansions, cars, and other luxury goods--leaves less time for the "intrinsic" pursuits that give us real grounding. The author is a personable guide to this gilded world, showing how the ultrawealthy make their money and how U.S. tax laws and loopholes allow them to keep building it--but he also provides a cautionary tale about the myriad headaches that unbridled wealth can bring. Mechanic is happy to report that the rich are often bored and miserable--and (surprise!) less compassionate unless they can balance their extrinsic and intrinsic pursuits. Though the text is often a gleeful sendup of the absurd eccentricities of the superrich, the author also spotlights a few billionaires who find genuine spiritual contentment in giving their wealth away. "For an actual rags-to-riches tale," writes the author, "one might turn to Ford Foundation president Darren Walker, who grew up penniless in rural Texas and went on to become an icon in the world of philanthropy." A scathing but fair indictment of how the mindless worship of wealth makes us all poorer.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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