Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Business & Economics Economic Conditions

The Trouble with Billionaires

Why Too Much Money At The Top Is Bad For Everyone

by (author) Linda McQuaig & Neil Brooks

Publisher
Penguin Group Canada
Initial publish date
Sep 2011
Category
Economic Conditions, Distribution, Social Classes
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780143174547
    Publish Date
    Sep 2011
    List Price
    $22.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780670064199
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $34.00

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

The glittering lives of billionaires may seem like a harmless source of entertainment. But such concentrated economic power reverberates throughout society, threatening the quality of life and the very functioning of democracy. It's no accident that the United States claims the most billionaires—but suffers among the highest rates of infant mortality and crime, the shortest life expectancy, as well as the lowest rates of social mobility and electoral political participation in the developed world.

Our society tends to regard large fortunes as evidence of great talent or accomplishment. Yet the vast new wealth isn't due to an increase in talent or effort at the top, but rather to changing social attitudes legitimizing greed and government policy changes that favour the new elite. Authoritative and eye-opening, The Trouble with Billionaires will spark debate about the kind of society we want.

About the authors

Linda McQuaig is the recipient of a National Newspaper Award for investigative reporting. She is also the author of eight national bestsellers, including Shooting the Hippo, selected by the Literary Review of Canada as one of the twenty-five most influential books of the past twenty-five years.

Linda McQuaig's profile page

Neil Brooks' profile page