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Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More
Economist Rob Larson combines wit, righteous anger, and clear-eyed analysis as he dissects the lifestyle, moral bankruptcy, and stupidly large sums of money hoarded by the disgustingly wealthy.
The fact that we live in one of the most unequal societies in the history of the world is becoming common knowledge. And while lists of “richest people in x country” may be easy to come by, how much do we really know about the billionaires who sit atop our global economic system? Who are they, really? How did they accumulate their ill-gotten gains? And what kind of depravities do they use to maintain their positions?
Turning their own weapons of class-war against them—from the fawning profiles found in the Mansion section of the Wall Street Journal to the national income data buried in white papers meant solely for investors and technocrats—Larson crunches the numbers so you don’t have to.
But he doesn’t stop there, because appreciating the sheer scale of the global wealth gap doesn’t even touch on all the ways the ruling class are making us miserable, breaking our society to pieces, and destroying the planet in their pursuit of ever-increasing power and profit. As we behold whole continents on fire, pandemics thrashing public health systems to smithereens, and declining lifespans for the vast majority, Larson argues that the only way forward is to yank on the emergency break and give capitalism the boot.
The fact that we live in one of the most unequal societies in the history of the world is becoming common knowledge. And while lists of “richest people in x country” may be easy to come by, how much do we really know about the billionaires who sit atop our global economic system? Who are they, really? How did they accumulate their ill-gotten gains? And what kind of depravities do they use to maintain their positions?
Turning their own weapons of class-war against them—from the fawning profiles found in the Mansion section of the Wall Street Journal to the national income data buried in white papers meant solely for investors and technocrats—Larson crunches the numbers so you don’t have to.
But he doesn’t stop there, because appreciating the sheer scale of the global wealth gap doesn’t even touch on all the ways the ruling class are making us miserable, breaking our society to pieces, and destroying the planet in their pursuit of ever-increasing power and profit. As we behold whole continents on fire, pandemics thrashing public health systems to smithereens, and declining lifespans for the vast majority, Larson argues that the only way forward is to yank on the emergency break and give capitalism the boot.
261 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2024
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642 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 31, 2024
Ok, I needed a short break from fiction (let's be honest: romantic fiction) and settle back into Marxist class analysis! Fighting the rich, one glass of champagne at a time, are we 🫣 Not to mention my obsession with Succession and Kendall Fucking Roy (❤️).
Anyway, I think this new book "Mastering the Universe" (Haymarket Books, 2024) was a recommendation from the The Dig podcast which accounts for about 90 percent of my non-fiction library.
The book about itself "this book is for learning all about our global rogues’ gallery of remote ruling-class bastards.'
Obviously, as a Marxist I care less about wealthy individuals and their lifestyles than structures so this is where I struggled a bit with the book (and only skimmed through Chapter 2 on the rich folks' lifestyles). Let me put it way more arrogantly: I've spent years (exaggerated much?) on wrestling with at times unreadable Marxist political economy and political philosophy classics to understand the inner workings of capitalism, imperialism and the various associated political superstructures and hegemonic ideologies so I can't really enjoy a book about the concentration of wealth in global financial capitalism that focuses on 'rich bastards'. Is this a good primer with many references to classics? Certainly. Should there be more of these accessible counter-narratives to neoliberal glorification of 'the market'? Certainly? Is this my cup of tea? Probably not.
Bottom line: I don't want people to hate on the rich, I want people to hate on those who were elected to represent our interests but work in the interests of the rich. Like Kamala Harris "for the people" while being put in this role by and for the ultra rich. Where is her platform to address the real issues of the 90 percent. For which group of people exactly, Kamala Harris. Etc.
In her defense, this is very much a problem of the US political system (plutocracy?) including it's most insane campaign financing system - both Joe Biden and Donald Trump spent over a billion dollars apiece on their 2020 campaigns (counting spending by their affiliated political action committees). Looking at how the liberal commentariat celebrated the coronation of KH at the DNC shows just how much they are part of the problem (duh!).
Key highlights:
Chapter 1 - Useful summary and unpacking of the current (mindblowing) state of wealth distribution (Piketty style). It’s a fact that today eight rich men own as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of the world’s population (all four billion plus of them). In 2020, half the names on the Forbes list of the fifty richest families had appeared on the list in 1983. The richest 1 percent of US households owns 40 percent of the stock market, and the top 10 percent owns 84 percent, meaning that the rich own corporate America and its great productive power. We're back to where we where in the Gilded Age (also reflected in the latter's revival in pop culture).
There are approximately 1 million other excellent books on the link between neoliberalism and global financial capitalism and the current insane levels of inequality within countries as well as books on the legacy of colonialism and imperialism on the continued transfer of wealth from the global south to the west, many of them also published by Haymarket books and VERSO.
Chapter 2 - a bit of background on how the ultra rich burn their not-so hard earned cash. I've watched enough Succession on this subject.
Chapter 3 - an intro on class: the real class difference not between blue collar and (Ehrenreich) Professional Managerial Class (PMC) but between those who own and those who work for a living (working class).
What defines the real modern ruling class as a class in the Marxist sense is not cash and fancy property but their ownership of the productive economy via financial and business assets (wealth in real estate plays a larger role for the middle class than the real rich) - and the political power that comes with it. This extremely high level of centralization of business equity (top 10% own 84% of traded stock) means that the ruling class is an owning class that not only possesses vast liquid wealth but owns most of the world of business. When stock markets boom, the rich get much richer, as they have for the past four decades or so.
Chapter 4 - 'The Lies' of the elite’s claims of job creation, innovation, and charity - again there are plenty of good books that debunk these claims that also lie at the core of neoliberal ideology and the chapter contains many references to these.
Chapter 5 - The Burden/ Climate Change: The top percent contributes obviously exorbitantly more to climate change than the the lower ranks. The richest tenth of the world is responsible for almost half of all climate emissions, playing a giant, disproportionate role in climate change. Climate change and capitalism are intrinsically linked which is also why we can't innovate our way out. Which is also why I believe we're essentially doomed (Mark Fisher: "it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism").
Chapter 6 - The clans, comparing global upper crusts, interesting enough insights the Gulf monarchies/ middle eastern inequalities (I could add a thing or two on war economy/ narco state insane accumulation of wealth in Syria - probably not despite sanctions but thanks to the sanctions). Also featuring Russian Oligarchs and I'd like to add the Ukrainian oligarchs and beg the question where people think exactly the hundreds of billions USD that keep raining on a highly corrupt country like Ukraine are ending up. But let's wait for it - shall we - a few wiki leaks later to then faint great surprise! Who would have thought! Not to be missed: Chinese top 1% who 'only' own 30.5 percent of the country's wealth. Thanks to the post WW welfare state (which in order to be financed needs redistribution of wealth - hence neither Obama nor Biden nor Harris will manage to bring about universal healthcare in the richest country in the world lol), concentration of wealth in Europe is still somewhat moderate- the top 1% own 25% but are much more inheritance based, well functioning legacy of the former aristocracy which may have lost their ridiculous titles (Durchlaucht, anyone?) but still hold key positions of power and influence in politics and economy. But appreciate their discreetness, unlike fairly new 'third world money' they don't seem to feel the need to show off and rub their wealth into is commoners. Interesting detour on Germany and its Nazi billionaires. Good summary also on neocolonialism and the role of the IMF (and frankly all other international organizations) in this - the insane poverty and very concentrated wealth in much of Africa, Asia and Latin America is a result of colonialism including the modern day imperialist (or neocolonial) global economy - there are so many good books on 21st century imperialism, I loved more recent books by John Smith, Zak Cope, David Harvey, Mike Davis, Adom Getachew and so many others on this. I think the only real-life politician who came close to coming to term with this remains Jeremy Corbyn but that's for another rant.
Chapter 7 - The Plan: The Socialist Movement to Stick it to the Man. Now we are talking.
Obviously, I agree with everything in this chapter and appreciate the pep talk re increasing number of people who reject capitalism and warm up to 21st century socialism (also re: the Rise of Millennial Socialism) and the partial resurgence of socialist politics (Bernie etc).
It remains important to acknowledge the positive signs of class struggle: successful examples of collective action among teachers and automobile industry; generally more positive attitude towards unions among young people; climate action, indigenous rights, housing etc - a multitude of struggles where people are pushing back against the dehumanizing logic of private profits above everything else.
So, clearly, there's a radicalization but unfortunately for reasons for which I entirely blame the centrists/ progressive neoliberals, it appears that the far right is currently winning the battle which doesn't mean that it's inevitable:
"Ruling classes look invincible right up until they collapse. Maybe your contribution will be a tipping point. And when struggling against the ruling class, remember to always have a laugh at their expense. They can afford it." ❤️ ☭
Anyway, I think this new book "Mastering the Universe" (Haymarket Books, 2024) was a recommendation from the The Dig podcast which accounts for about 90 percent of my non-fiction library.
The book about itself "this book is for learning all about our global rogues’ gallery of remote ruling-class bastards.'
Obviously, as a Marxist I care less about wealthy individuals and their lifestyles than structures so this is where I struggled a bit with the book (and only skimmed through Chapter 2 on the rich folks' lifestyles). Let me put it way more arrogantly: I've spent years (exaggerated much?) on wrestling with at times unreadable Marxist political economy and political philosophy classics to understand the inner workings of capitalism, imperialism and the various associated political superstructures and hegemonic ideologies so I can't really enjoy a book about the concentration of wealth in global financial capitalism that focuses on 'rich bastards'. Is this a good primer with many references to classics? Certainly. Should there be more of these accessible counter-narratives to neoliberal glorification of 'the market'? Certainly? Is this my cup of tea? Probably not.
Bottom line: I don't want people to hate on the rich, I want people to hate on those who were elected to represent our interests but work in the interests of the rich. Like Kamala Harris "for the people" while being put in this role by and for the ultra rich. Where is her platform to address the real issues of the 90 percent. For which group of people exactly, Kamala Harris. Etc.
In her defense, this is very much a problem of the US political system (plutocracy?) including it's most insane campaign financing system - both Joe Biden and Donald Trump spent over a billion dollars apiece on their 2020 campaigns (counting spending by their affiliated political action committees). Looking at how the liberal commentariat celebrated the coronation of KH at the DNC shows just how much they are part of the problem (duh!).
Key highlights:
Chapter 1 - Useful summary and unpacking of the current (mindblowing) state of wealth distribution (Piketty style). It’s a fact that today eight rich men own as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of the world’s population (all four billion plus of them). In 2020, half the names on the Forbes list of the fifty richest families had appeared on the list in 1983. The richest 1 percent of US households owns 40 percent of the stock market, and the top 10 percent owns 84 percent, meaning that the rich own corporate America and its great productive power. We're back to where we where in the Gilded Age (also reflected in the latter's revival in pop culture).
There are approximately 1 million other excellent books on the link between neoliberalism and global financial capitalism and the current insane levels of inequality within countries as well as books on the legacy of colonialism and imperialism on the continued transfer of wealth from the global south to the west, many of them also published by Haymarket books and VERSO.
Chapter 2 - a bit of background on how the ultra rich burn their not-so hard earned cash. I've watched enough Succession on this subject.
Chapter 3 - an intro on class: the real class difference not between blue collar and (Ehrenreich) Professional Managerial Class (PMC) but between those who own and those who work for a living (working class).
What defines the real modern ruling class as a class in the Marxist sense is not cash and fancy property but their ownership of the productive economy via financial and business assets (wealth in real estate plays a larger role for the middle class than the real rich) - and the political power that comes with it. This extremely high level of centralization of business equity (top 10% own 84% of traded stock) means that the ruling class is an owning class that not only possesses vast liquid wealth but owns most of the world of business. When stock markets boom, the rich get much richer, as they have for the past four decades or so.
Chapter 4 - 'The Lies' of the elite’s claims of job creation, innovation, and charity - again there are plenty of good books that debunk these claims that also lie at the core of neoliberal ideology and the chapter contains many references to these.
Chapter 5 - The Burden/ Climate Change: The top percent contributes obviously exorbitantly more to climate change than the the lower ranks. The richest tenth of the world is responsible for almost half of all climate emissions, playing a giant, disproportionate role in climate change. Climate change and capitalism are intrinsically linked which is also why we can't innovate our way out. Which is also why I believe we're essentially doomed (Mark Fisher: "it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism").
Chapter 6 - The clans, comparing global upper crusts, interesting enough insights the Gulf monarchies/ middle eastern inequalities (I could add a thing or two on war economy/ narco state insane accumulation of wealth in Syria - probably not despite sanctions but thanks to the sanctions). Also featuring Russian Oligarchs and I'd like to add the Ukrainian oligarchs and beg the question where people think exactly the hundreds of billions USD that keep raining on a highly corrupt country like Ukraine are ending up. But let's wait for it - shall we - a few wiki leaks later to then faint great surprise! Who would have thought! Not to be missed: Chinese top 1% who 'only' own 30.5 percent of the country's wealth. Thanks to the post WW welfare state (which in order to be financed needs redistribution of wealth - hence neither Obama nor Biden nor Harris will manage to bring about universal healthcare in the richest country in the world lol), concentration of wealth in Europe is still somewhat moderate- the top 1% own 25% but are much more inheritance based, well functioning legacy of the former aristocracy which may have lost their ridiculous titles (Durchlaucht, anyone?) but still hold key positions of power and influence in politics and economy. But appreciate their discreetness, unlike fairly new 'third world money' they don't seem to feel the need to show off and rub their wealth into is commoners. Interesting detour on Germany and its Nazi billionaires. Good summary also on neocolonialism and the role of the IMF (and frankly all other international organizations) in this - the insane poverty and very concentrated wealth in much of Africa, Asia and Latin America is a result of colonialism including the modern day imperialist (or neocolonial) global economy - there are so many good books on 21st century imperialism, I loved more recent books by John Smith, Zak Cope, David Harvey, Mike Davis, Adom Getachew and so many others on this. I think the only real-life politician who came close to coming to term with this remains Jeremy Corbyn but that's for another rant.
Chapter 7 - The Plan: The Socialist Movement to Stick it to the Man. Now we are talking.
Obviously, I agree with everything in this chapter and appreciate the pep talk re increasing number of people who reject capitalism and warm up to 21st century socialism (also re: the Rise of Millennial Socialism) and the partial resurgence of socialist politics (Bernie etc).
It remains important to acknowledge the positive signs of class struggle: successful examples of collective action among teachers and automobile industry; generally more positive attitude towards unions among young people; climate action, indigenous rights, housing etc - a multitude of struggles where people are pushing back against the dehumanizing logic of private profits above everything else.
So, clearly, there's a radicalization but unfortunately for reasons for which I entirely blame the centrists/ progressive neoliberals, it appears that the far right is currently winning the battle which doesn't mean that it's inevitable:
"Ruling classes look invincible right up until they collapse. Maybe your contribution will be a tipping point. And when struggling against the ruling class, remember to always have a laugh at their expense. They can afford it." ❤️ ☭
Want to read
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October 22, 2024
Eat the rich!!!
March 17, 2025
Clear and straightforward but I was disappointed by the lack of options for change.
July 13, 2025
Written with verve and high spirits, this short and well-referenced little primer on wealth inequality makes an absolutely compelling case for the expropriation of wealth in socialism’s near future. We can only hope. And struggle toward that goal!
November 25, 2024
Funny and educational.
September 26, 2024
In this book, Rob Larson discusses the ways that the upper/ruling class contributes to climate change, warfare, and the government. These ways are extremely revealing in the way that they show the intention behind these actions as incredibly greedy and ill-fitting for humankind as a whole. This was a great read before the election.
May 4, 2025
Ok, inte så mycket nytt för den som håller på med de här grejerna (inkomstfördelning, klass, ekonomisk politik) men en bra rant med goa citat från artiklar och böcker. Ett slags sammanfattande argumentation för behovet att göra något åt de superrikas tyranni. Med kul språk som detta: ”There the idle rich have more country room to create their visions for their homes. Which, let me tell you, are pretty fucking bonkers“
December 15, 2024
Unfortunately felt a bit half baked to me. The component parts are mostly there but any stab at original deeper analysis felt fleeting. Also the fits of sassy sarcasm in between otherwise very clear and quality writing and constant puns in chapter titles were kinda cringe. Overall, a nice casual read but missing depth.
July 13, 2025
The trouble is the antics of the last time socialism was tried and turned into a mass killing machine and weapon of repression that it was overthrown by the citizens. Nobody who has lived under a Socialist regime speaks well of it. It's all very well to criticise capitalism but what will you replace it with?
July 4, 2025
An illuminating view of the rich and what the think of and do with the rest of us. It is written in a a plain talk sort of why which worked for me. I read it after seeing him on Chris Hedges YouTube program.
November 5, 2024
Good intro book to the dangers of capitalism.
May 26, 2025
Some light jacobin lolz and rage for your brunch
June 8, 2025
Good. Fact heavy (percentages of percentages get boring to read). Provides context in re what wealth is and how it's distributed.
March 25, 2025
4.5⭐️/5 A brilliant book.
An inkling into the life of the financial elites and their exorbitantly expensive wealth and the class warfare. The author highlights the rich class' role in climate change and rising inequality. The narration reveals the author’s anger against the self-centred rich. Tax-he argues-has bridged the gap between the rich and the rest to some extent. The book ends with a great debate on capitalism v. socialism and the need to move towards democratic socialism. My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
https://booksfoodmylife.blogspot.com/...
An inkling into the life of the financial elites and their exorbitantly expensive wealth and the class warfare. The author highlights the rich class' role in climate change and rising inequality. The narration reveals the author’s anger against the self-centred rich. Tax-he argues-has bridged the gap between the rich and the rest to some extent. The book ends with a great debate on capitalism v. socialism and the need to move towards democratic socialism. My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
https://booksfoodmylife.blogspot.com/...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews