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This book makes you wonder about honest journalism. And given Freeland's current position in the Trudeau government, honest politics. The focus of the book is on billionaires, their self-interest and excesses. It was written in 2012. The Giving Pledge was begun in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. What explains the complete omission of the Giving Pledge in this book? Right. It does not fit the narrative. Money - evil. Stay with the program. In the conclusion Freeland states that the Plutocrats ensure their kids go to Ivy League schools as that is the most important factor in wealth perpetuation. Freeland went to Harvard and Oxford. But she is pure unlike her classmates. The book's subtitle is "The rise of the new global super_rich and the fall of everyone else" yet nowhere in the book does she support the "fall of everyone else" claim. The book is peppered with details and quotations (often mentioning private conversations with the author which come across as unnecessary, pretentious and egocentric). For example, she refers to China as "the middle kingdom." Why? Which middle kingdom? Not impressed.

Taleb makes his fortune in the markets and then sits back and insults the rest of us for working. The arrogance is breath-taking.