The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions Paperback – 4 Feb. 2021

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This book is genius. It sheds light on things that were under my nose but I never considered. I did have notice the change in the world towards the Gothem out of Batman's movies but it was difficult to pinpoint as to what the drive is. Well, all the answers are right there - the world is getting poorer while the 0.1% of the population is getting richer. And they already own trillions. That all falls into place now. And, no, I am not the one who is writing all sorts of slogans on the walls at night :) Honestly, the way the book begins, it develops characters (fancy that in non-fiction!), it has an excellent pace, remains up-beat up till the end. It does repeat a few things over and over, but I guess that's just for the emphasis purpose. The language is easy to understand, the beat of the book is easy to follow and the load of information is digestible though the contents are quite intense revelation-wise. I am not fond of this type of literature, I prefer my fiction to be silly rather than patronising - this book is neither. It is a well-structured, saturated read that entertains as well as educates. It is highly recommended to young people especially. And instead of tons of books on other sorts of all offences and inequalities in life, this is THE BOOK that has to be studied at universities and selected by the venerable professors for their lectures. This books discusses THE ONLY source of inequality, as it so turns out to be that this source is quite mesmerizing for many and they mimic it best they can. My review is not a propaganda, it is just an excited shout for heads up to pick this book over any other one since it does enlighten and helps understand so many things on so many levels. If you are in any dilemma at the moment, I have a very strong suspicion that once you concentrate on the big picture this book discusses even smaller events, apparently quite unrelated, will take on a new shade. Wonderful all over. Cannot recommend enough.

Chuck Collins is an author and a senior researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. This is an informative and thought provoking book about how the USA and UK have set up and promoted systems that encourage the rich to send their wealth to them for investment and in turn promotes tax avoidance and in turn harms public services and increases inequality. The one weakness with it is that it is short on suggestions as to what to do to combat this and I think Collins should have stuck his neck out and been more prescriptive than he is. That said it is an interesting book that makes its points well and on that basis it is worth a look.

That the level of wealth inequality has reached obscene proportions in the last 4 decades isn`t disputed by anyone who truly cares about the world we live in – needless to say I disagree with the glib negative reviews posted here.This book doesn`t really have any unexpected revelations (unless one has been living on another planet) , but it does provide a succinct and timely analysis of just how the rich employ an army of legal defenders to hide their wealth by exploiting loopholes in the law and often employing very unethical (not to say immoral) means to keep from paying their fair share of tax.Collins` study is informed, very readable and actually quite balanced – the suggestion that it is a case of “bash the rich” by another reviewer is unwarranted – Collins provides examples of ethical and socially responsible players within the wealth management industry and some of the wealthy themselves – he does not judge all by the actions of the worst offenders.It is a serious issue that vast wealth is siphoned out of the global economy and not circulated; it deprives governments of the means to effectively address fundamental problems such as the current covid pandemic, the advent of global warming and the growing poverty that exists even in developed countries – we all suffer because of the greed of the irresponsible few; it is widely acknowledged that some 80% of global wealth is in the hands of just .1% of it`s population – something you might like to consider.Read this book if you need a clear and jargon-free picture of how this is happening - then think about what can be done about it - perhaps starting with the ballot box.

I see there's several reviewers that are annoyed by this book but I'm not sure why? Could it be that you're one of these wealth hiders? Possibly want to be one?It talks about the acountants and managers who have been assisting the rich to hide their wealth. The fact that they earn millions all in order to avoid paying a penny more in tax. Tax that could and would assist society. It comes from workers who are forced into this scheme with no benefit to themselves or society as a whole, and have no choice but to be continue whilst others reap rewards of unimaginable dreams.It gives a in-depth account of how these people and those who have created an industry around it are doing everything they can to hoard wealth and the end result is greater power and worse inequality.It exposes the mentality and behaviour from "agents of inequality", how they create shell companies, offshore accounts, trusts, family offices and fake transactions so that they can ensure the world's richest pay as little as possible while everyone else pays more!It talks about so called democracies doing everything within their power to maintain the status quo and close down any arguments that arise against individuals and their behaviour!

I absolutely loved this book. It shows how the ultra rich who can most afford to pay taxes avoid paying their fair share and make the middle class shoulder the burden that they have created. The book is written by an insider who spills the secrets of these “agencies of inequality” a must read

Come i miliardari pagano milioni per nascondere i propri soldi. Il libro racconta in che modo i ricchi riescono a moltiplicare i propri soldi e gli schemi che utilizzano per nasconderli. Tutto questo aumenta ancora di più le diseguaglianze. Da leggere

The whole book just had one point- The rich have ways of avoiding taxes. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t give an insight on any of the ways.

Chuck Collins comes from wealth. In his early twenties, Collins was first introduced to "Family Offices," the anonymous command centers from which the super-wealthy and their lawyers create schemes-within-schemes for shielding the wealth of the super-rich from the prying eyes of the IRS.And that's precisely what makes this book so useful. Collins, with his insider's view of the matter, is equipped to dig more deeply and explain the dynamics of wealth-hiding more fully than other researchers. And why do Collins' insights into the world of wealth-hiding matter so much? I'm attaching a chart that shows the Saez-Zucman findings on how America's economy has treated (or mistreated) its people for the last century. At our economy's best, from ~1939 to 1979, the appetites of the Top One Percent were held in check, their earnings pulled back to only 10% of the total, an outcome that enabled the Bottom Fifty Percent to expand its share of the economy's income pie from 14% to 20%. 1939 to 1979 became the American economy's golden era of Prosperity Capitalism. Then starting with Reagan, the rules of the American economy were reversed and so, too, were its outcomes. The Bottom Fifty Percent of the American workforce lost almost a third of its previous share. With the skids greased by Reagan, the Top One Percent gorged itself, its income take nearly doubling from a 10% share to a19% share. Prosperity Capitalism is now a thing of the past. Enrichment Capitalism is the Cruel One Percenter's New Normal. And this simple flip, from Prosperity Capitalism to Enrichment Capitalism, tells us why Chuck Collins' insights into the dark world of family offices is so important. He makes it clear that patriotism is of little interest to those in the Top One Percent. If economic fairness is to be revived as one of America's most fundamental principles, a pitched battle by ordinary Americans and their elected officials against the wealth-hiding Family Offices of the super rich will be essential.Steven Howard Johnson

A little more focus would have helped both in casting the problem and in the analysis. Nonetheless, a valuable contribution and should be read by many!