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Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises
A powerful analysis of how the bias towards wealth that is woven into the very fabric of American capitalism is damaging people, the economy, and the planet, and what the foundations of a new economy could be.
This bold manifesto exposes seven myths underlying wealth supremacy, the bias that institutionalizes infinite extraction of wealth by and for the wealthy, and is the hidden force behind economic injustice, the climate crisis, and so many other problems of our day:
The Myth of Maximizing: No amount of wealth is ever enough.
The Myth of Fiduciary Duty: Corporate managers’ most sacred duty is to expand capital.
The Myth of Corporate Governance: Corporate membership must be reserved for capital alone.
The Myth of the Income Statement: Income to capital must always be increased, while income to labor must always be decreased.
The Myth of Materiality: Profit—material gain—alone is real, while social and environmental damages are not.
The Myth of Takings: The first duty of government must be the protection of private property.
The Myth of the Free Market: There should be no limits on the field of action of corporations and capital.
Kelly argues instead for the democratization of ownership: public ownership of vital services, worker-owned businesses, and more. And she sketches the outlines of a non-extractive capitalism that would be subordinate to the public interest. This is an ambitious reimagining of the very foundations of our economy and society.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2012
36 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 5, 2024
“Wealth Supremacy” is the latest volume in a long line of written works on the degradation of global capitalism and the existence of viable alternatives. Majorie Kelly does a tremendous job detailing the scope of the threat posed by “financialization,” “capital bias,” and the various tenets of capitalism revolving around profit maximization, endless growth, and perpetual extraction. Kelly’s anti-capitalism is targeted and intentional. She is trying to urge readers to see the urgency in establishing a new system of democratic, regenerative economics that does not dominate people or threaten the planet. My only critique is that more needs to be said about the racial dynamics of capitalism and how those same racial dynamics often impede any movement toward a new system.
October 6, 2024
The first few chapters were a bit tough to get through but when Kelly starts getting to the numbers it is shocking. We are destroying ourselves willingly. I kinda hope it falls apart in my lifetime just so I can watch.
June 17, 2025
2.5 for me. I appreciated that she stated that the point of the book was to get people to change the way they talk about wealth in every day conversations. There were a lot of interesting details, but there wasn’t enough depth for me. I wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with someone who has a different opinion than the book, and back it up with enough information to prove a point.
I also didn’t like that the author kept saying the power is with the people to make the change, and yet, the only examples of changes to enact were at a company or community level. I would have liked to take tangible actions from this book.
I do now want to eventually buy a rainforest though.
I also didn’t like that the author kept saying the power is with the people to make the change, and yet, the only examples of changes to enact were at a company or community level. I would have liked to take tangible actions from this book.
I do now want to eventually buy a rainforest though.
June 12, 2024
Marjorie Kelly is really digging into the systemic roots of capitalism in this book, very thoughtfully and comprehensively.
Like virtually all "what's wrong with the world?" books, this one starts with a long list of the problems caused not just by unlimited wealth but by what she describes as the reverence for and primacy of wealth over all other considerations. She has some good history about how wealth came to be sacrosanct, and lots of strong data about why that's a problem (as if we needed any convincing). She is, however, the only author of this sort of book I've encountered who takes a clear, unambiguous position that we need to communicate the harms clearly, constantly, and loudly before offering new paths.
She then sets out the "myths of wealth supremacy":
The Myth of Maximizing ("no amount of wealth is ever enough")
The Myth of Fiduciary Duty ("the most sacred duty is that owed by managers of wealth to owners of wealth")
The Myth of Corporate Governance ("workers are not members of the corporation")
The Myth of the Income Statement (income to capital is always to be increased while income to labor is always to be decreased")
The Myth of Materiality ("gains to capital are real, while social and ecological damages are not real except to the extent they affect capital")
The Myth of the Free Market ("democracy is the enemy of the independence and power of wealth")
The Myth of Takings ("the first duty of government is the protection of wealth")
And then she turns her eyes onto ways to debunk the myths and counteract the harms, many of which are interesting and some of which were new to me. If this is your kind of subject, you'll appreciate this book and gain some insight from Kelly's analysis.
Like virtually all "what's wrong with the world?" books, this one starts with a long list of the problems caused not just by unlimited wealth but by what she describes as the reverence for and primacy of wealth over all other considerations. She has some good history about how wealth came to be sacrosanct, and lots of strong data about why that's a problem (as if we needed any convincing). She is, however, the only author of this sort of book I've encountered who takes a clear, unambiguous position that we need to communicate the harms clearly, constantly, and loudly before offering new paths.
She then sets out the "myths of wealth supremacy":
The Myth of Maximizing ("no amount of wealth is ever enough")
The Myth of Fiduciary Duty ("the most sacred duty is that owed by managers of wealth to owners of wealth")
The Myth of Corporate Governance ("workers are not members of the corporation")
The Myth of the Income Statement (income to capital is always to be increased while income to labor is always to be decreased")
The Myth of Materiality ("gains to capital are real, while social and ecological damages are not real except to the extent they affect capital")
The Myth of the Free Market ("democracy is the enemy of the independence and power of wealth")
The Myth of Takings ("the first duty of government is the protection of wealth")
And then she turns her eyes onto ways to debunk the myths and counteract the harms, many of which are interesting and some of which were new to me. If this is your kind of subject, you'll appreciate this book and gain some insight from Kelly's analysis.
February 10, 2024
Das ist wie eine niedrige drei Sterne für mich... es gab einige gute Ideen in diesem Buch, aber die Ausführung war nicht sehr gut und es brauchte mehr historischen Kontext imo... keine angenehme Lektüre, aber ich beharrte
June 21, 2024
I may have been putting my face and letting out a bloodcurdling scream every 7 pages or so (y’know, because of the state of the world), but I am recommending it to everyone I know (and even occasionally in comments on Instagram) because it was so good.
February 9, 2024
Good book for motivation and explanation. I was hoping for a bit more on the "now what"/ action steps. Maybe there will be a part 2!
November 18, 2023
Marjorie Kelly has always been an excellent and accessible writer, presenting a sharp critique of the prevailing model of corporate capitalism.
When we talk about changing the economic system (which we must if we want a more equitable and sustainable world), we need to drill down on what makes the system what it is -- its foundational assumptions that give it shape and manifest and reproduce throughout. Kelly homes in on the phenomena of "wealthy supremacy" and "capital bias." The former she defines as "the cultural and political processes and attitudes by which persons of wealth accumulate and maintain prestige, privilege, and power that others lack." The latter she defines as "the bias toward the maximum increase of capital--maximum benefit to wealth holders--that operates inside the processes and institutions through which capital deploys functional power." As we grapple with the forces of white supremacy, patriarchy, etc., we must understand the workings of these other forms of bias, especially because they can be present in things positioning themselves as solutions to our global polycrisis. Indeed, countries that are not technically "capitalist" are not inherently free of these biases.
Kelly knows these biases well from years of working in the CSR and business ethics space, seeing the limitations of even the best of corporate reformers and a tendency to resort to framing any necessary social or environmental change as really what's best for the bottom line (as the ultimate arbiter of value).
Kelly debunks the myths that undergird wealth supremacy and challenges us to broaden our understanding of what the economy really is. I especially appreciated her chapter debunking the myth that workers are not part of a corporation, challenging the "thingification" of corporations that present workers as burdens or costs rather than an essential part of the human community that constitutes a corporation.
What makes Kelly such an effective writer is that she is not just a critic: her works always contain a hopeful note about the better world that is possible, here focusing on the democratization of the economy and of finance -- especially her work on changing models of ownership.
When we talk about changing the economic system (which we must if we want a more equitable and sustainable world), we need to drill down on what makes the system what it is -- its foundational assumptions that give it shape and manifest and reproduce throughout. Kelly homes in on the phenomena of "wealthy supremacy" and "capital bias." The former she defines as "the cultural and political processes and attitudes by which persons of wealth accumulate and maintain prestige, privilege, and power that others lack." The latter she defines as "the bias toward the maximum increase of capital--maximum benefit to wealth holders--that operates inside the processes and institutions through which capital deploys functional power." As we grapple with the forces of white supremacy, patriarchy, etc., we must understand the workings of these other forms of bias, especially because they can be present in things positioning themselves as solutions to our global polycrisis. Indeed, countries that are not technically "capitalist" are not inherently free of these biases.
Kelly knows these biases well from years of working in the CSR and business ethics space, seeing the limitations of even the best of corporate reformers and a tendency to resort to framing any necessary social or environmental change as really what's best for the bottom line (as the ultimate arbiter of value).
Kelly debunks the myths that undergird wealth supremacy and challenges us to broaden our understanding of what the economy really is. I especially appreciated her chapter debunking the myth that workers are not part of a corporation, challenging the "thingification" of corporations that present workers as burdens or costs rather than an essential part of the human community that constitutes a corporation.
What makes Kelly such an effective writer is that she is not just a critic: her works always contain a hopeful note about the better world that is possible, here focusing on the democratization of the economy and of finance -- especially her work on changing models of ownership.
December 3, 2023
Reading this gave me vocabulary for so much that is commonsense about our culture, including the economy. Indeed, life-changing because all my life I've been aware that the structure of the world we live in honors money first, last, and in-between. And just as importantly, it does not have to be that way. A different way isn't just about who owns all the "stuff" but about the mass drivenness to accumulate more and more and more, and to be able to do so, even though it causes disaster to the planet and other living (or not "living") creatures..
March 14, 2025
Book club book finished late.
This shined a light on some of the underlying systems that lead to our exploitation under our current form of capitalism. Finance is something that I was not very knowledgeable about before this book and i feel like it gave a good introduction to some of these topics.
The third part gave ideas of how to improve our situation which i enjoyed, but they felt very rushed and a little abstract. I would like a more in depth explanation of some of them, but i guess that would take another book.
This shined a light on some of the underlying systems that lead to our exploitation under our current form of capitalism. Finance is something that I was not very knowledgeable about before this book and i feel like it gave a good introduction to some of these topics.
The third part gave ideas of how to improve our situation which i enjoyed, but they felt very rushed and a little abstract. I would like a more in depth explanation of some of them, but i guess that would take another book.
March 10, 2025
In somewhat repetitive prose style, Marjorie Kelly explains how Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate prioritize profit over people and continue to get away with it until . . . . things fall apart. Soon. Well done.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews