Why the Rich are Getting Richer

I have mentioned that I read random finance books I find at the local library. This one has to be the worst I've read. The author, Robert Kiyosaki , wrote a very popular finance book in 2000 called Rich Dad Poor Dad. The premise of the two books seems the same: borrow heavily and invest in real estate. Not surprisingly, he names Donald Trump as a friend and personal hero. They wrote a book together. Also, not surprisingly, the author filed for bankruptcy in 2012 (he does not mention that in his second book).

The rich are getting richer because they have more courage. They don't pay taxes. They care only for themselves.

This reminds me of an article I read recently by a futurist named Douglas Rushkoff called Survival of the Richest.

Here's an excerpt of the story:
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After I arrived, I was ushered into what I thought was the green room. But instead of being wired with a microphone or taken to a stage, I just sat there at a plain round table as my audience was brought to me: five super-wealthy guys — yes, all men — from the upper echelon of the hedge fund world. After a bit of small talk, I realized they had no interest in the information I had prepared about the future of technology. They had come with questions of their own.

They started out innocuously enough. Ethereum or bitcoin? Is quantum computing a real thing? Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less impacted by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?”

This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless? What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. (emphasis mine)
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We have all heard that money is the root of evil but I think it's greed: the concept that you can never have enough. It seems to corrode people from within and turns them into fearful, myopic trolls. To avoid the taint, I am avoiding finance books for a while.. maybe forever.

Anyway, don't read this book.