Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire

From Occupy Wall Street to ‘tax-the-rich’ activism, there has been growing resistance to the unearned wealth and power commanded by the billionaire class – an ultra-elite social class who have sequestered the world’s wealth while others languish in poverty and hunger. How do they get away with it? Coupled with their immense financial resources, a set of inter-connected myths portray billionaires as a ‘force for good’: • Heroic billionaires • Generous billionaires • Meritorious billionaires • Vigilante billionaires These archetypes are allowing billionaire wealth and power to set us back to old-style feudalism and plutocracy. Offering a trenchant critique of the new breed of billionaires, this incisive book testifies to the growing political will worldwide to take concrete actions to support economic justice and democratic equality.