Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet

by Chuck Collins

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Audiobook, Politics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2025

About the author

Chuck is the director of the Program on Inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits Inequality.org. He oversees a number of programs focused on wealth inequality, the racial wealth divide, and philanthropy reform.

Reviews

[CatReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chuck Collins is an American writer and long-time scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. He is also the great-grandson and an heir of Oscar Mayer of Oscar Mayer Weiner fame, though he reportedly gave away most of his massive inheritance (and this is not written about in this book).

Collins' 2025 book Burned by Billionaires is a progressive railing against the global ultra-wealthy and what they're able to get away with. It's very much in the vein of similar recent books like Evan Osnos' The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich, Megan Greenwell's Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, and the plethora of Youtube channels that make similar content exposing and critiquing the uber rich. I did find this book rather one-note, though -- yes, I understand why Collins hates billionaires (though sharing his own riches-to-alleged-rags story might have made this narrative more compelling), and I presume much of his audience hates billionaires too, which essentially makes this book...rage bait. All anger and venting but little to no tangible suggestions to change things in a way that will actually work. Proposing that the US government close loopholes in evading estate tax and then use the profits from this tax to give reparation to pay to select members of the lower 90% of earners is never going to fly, for many of the reasons Collins himself cites (mainly the political power that the 0.1% hold). I also didn't appreciate how Collins opens the book with a condescending naming-and-shaming of different levels of wealth and portrays them as nearly uniformly corrupt -- I'd be a member of 'affluent town' by his metrics and I presume he would be too, living in the DMV and working at a prominent policy firm (not to mention whatever inheritance and status he retained from his nepo baby roots).

Ultimately this book falls into the same trap as another book I've read recently, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World
(see my review here), where prominent, well-informed experts in a field have logical and compelling arguments but make them in such an emotion-dominated, polarizing way that they alienate anyone who's not already perfectly aligned. I, too, find extreme wealth problematic and agree with Collins that this wealth structure has far-reaching negative consequences on the global ecosystem. But, like I argued in my review of Science Under Siege, winning friends and influencing people rarely happens when your approach drips of contempt and abandons all principles of good policy work (namely diplomacy).

My statistics:
Book 37 for 2026
Book 2343 cumulatively

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet by Chuck Collins

Rating: 4.7/5

Reactions & Emotional Impact
Collins’ Burned by Billionaires is a searing, meticulously researched indictment of wealth inequality that left me equal parts enraged and energized. The book’s opening statistic—comparing billionaire yachts’ carbon emissions to Burundi’s entire population—immediately shattered any illusions of “harmless” excess. As someone concerned about climate justice and democracy, I found Collins’ synthesis of economic, ecological, and political analysis revelatory. His dismantling of meritocracy myths resonated deeply, evoking frustration at systemic rigging but also hope in his actionable solutions. The inclusion of visual aids (charts, political cartoons) made dense data feel urgent and accessible, often prompting me to pause and reflect on my own complicity in unequal systems.

Strengths
-Interdisciplinary Rigor: Collins seamlessly connects wealth concentration to climate collapse, housing crises, and media manipulation, offering a holistic view of inequality’s ripple effects.
-Data-Driven Storytelling: The book balances hard statistics (e.g., tax burdens shifted to workers) with human narratives, avoiding dry abstraction.
-Solutions-Oriented: Unlike purely diagnostic critiques, Collins provides concrete policy prescriptions and grassroots strategies for reclaiming power.
-Visual Engagement: Infographics and cartoons amplify key points, making complex ideas digestible.

Constructive Criticism
-Geographic Scope: While U.S.-centric analysis is thorough, a deeper global perspective (e.g., Global South impacts) could strengthen its universality.
-Billionaire Nuance: A brief exploration of “conscientious” wealthy allies (e.g., those funding systemic change) might add nuance to the critique.
-Emotional Toll: The relentless exposé of inequities risks overwhelming readers; more interludes highlighting small victories could buoy morale.

Final Thoughts
This book is a clarion call for our era—a masterclass in connecting personal lived experiences to structural oppression. While its unflinching gaze at inequality is unsettling, Collins’ roadmap for collective action transforms despair into agency. A must-read for activists, policymakers, and anyone questioning why the world feels so broken.

Gratitude:
Thank you to The New Press and Edelweiss for the gifted copy—this book is a catalyst for critical conversation and change.

Why 4.7?
Docked slightly for limited global perspective, but Burned by Billionaires is a near-perfect blend of scholarship, urgency, and hope. It doesn’t just diagnose the disease; it prescribes the cure.

[Kat Fick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Billionaires are bad

[Shane Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good economics sign of the times stuff but nothing you probably don’t have a good idea of by now. As you can tell by the title of the book, I fell for middle class rage bait and it delivered, although not in a way that was significantly different than many economics books before it that focused on this.

[Bart Derksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chuck Collins schrijft in Burned by Billionaires een behoorlijk confronterend boek. Zijn punt is simpel: miljardairs zijn niet alleen “heel rijk”, maar vormen een machtslaag die economie, politiek en klimaatbeleid merkbaar kan beïnvloeden. Niet per se via één grote samenzwering, maar via toegang, geld, netwerken en slimme constructies.
Wat het boek sterk maakt, is dat Collins laat zien hoe rijkdom zichzelf beschermt. Achter elke miljardair zit een systeem van adviseurs, lobbyisten, juridische trucs en reputatiemanagement. Daardoor gaat het boek niet alleen over ongelijkheid, maar vooral over macht: wie bepaalt de regels, en wie kan ze omzeilen?

Tegelijk is Collins soms wat eenzijdig (en heeft het opvallend vaak over de 'jachten' van miljardairs) Hij zet “de miljardair” erg centraal, terwijl er ook andere factoren spelen: geopolitiek, staatsbelangen, energie-afhankelijkheid en technologische machtsstrijd. Dat verdwijnt in zijn verhaal soms naar de achtergrond.
Maar ondanks dat is dit een belangrijk boek, omdat het je dwingt om opnieuw naar de basis te kijken. Extreme rijkdom is geen natuurverschijnsel: het is het gevolg van politieke keuzes en regels die het mogelijk maken. En als je daar iets aan wilt doen, heb je niet alleen verontwaardiging nodig, maar vooral slimme instituties en stevige hervormingen, liefst internationaal, want kapitaal trekt zich weinig aan van landsgrenzen.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

i absolutely loved this book! it was very easy to digest and accessible. the facts were presented in a very straightforward way showing the horrific degree to which income inequality is climbing to and its consequences. some of the books and subjects i’m super passionate about seem to be written by people wayyyyy smarter than me and i’m having to lookup multiple words before flipping a page, haha but this was perfect.

brilliantly highlights the gradual encroachment and capture by the billionaire class in virtually every sector of our society. which drives costs of living and essential needs up, undermines democratic processes, breeds social division, public services aren’t adequately funded, and the degradation of the environment and much more.

this book has some super cool points on meritocracy which align with mine, i believe the unempathetic and misconstrued narrative of meritocracy were told, that you are where you are because you deserve it. (aka If you’re poor, you’re poor for a reason and it’s probably your fault.) but this issue is so much more than the surface layer people address. its multifaceted and there’s so many factors that impact and contribute to poverty and social mobility, many negative factors, of which are attributed to the billionaire class

“Billionaires when it comes to extracting disproportionate value from under-compensated labor, while perpetuating the myth of meritocracy to justify systemic inequalities” type beat LMAO

i’m definitely going to come back and reread this because so many pages had me taking screenshots because of how powerfully accurate and deeply they resonated with me

[Adam Chace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illuminated details behind the vague notions I had about how many places wealth extraction and private equity had ruined the American dream.

Sobering in its simplicity and clear data. A worthwhile read even if it doesn’t leave you very hopeful. At least you’re informed.

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chuck Collins is the founder of Inequality.org and the Program on Inequality and the Common Good and the author of several books on the way economic inequality and billionaire privilege negatively impact human life: pollution, higher taxes, unaffordable housing, inadequate healthcare, education, poverty, politics, and the food we eat. He shows the way people become billionaires and then use their wealth to serve themselves at the cost to hundreds of thousands of communities and people around the world. H econcludes with several policy changes needed to stop growing economic inequality.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I experienced this book in the Audible format. I give it five stars because it is both short and to the point. If the agenda that is put forward by Chuck toward the end of the book is ever to be even partially enacted, it will take a lot of work by a lot of people. I am not sure if I would call these changes liberal or radical. For me liberal means you are trying to change the system and radical means you are trying to overthrow the system.

My father died in 2016 and I became a millionaire for a few months. My father left me instructions about who to give more than half of that money to in a non-taxable way. The money would come to me from annuities, which meant that I would be liable for any federal taxes. I filed but didn’t pay my federal taxes on that inheritance and donated the amount of federal income taxes due to good causes locally, nationally and internationally. I am now approaching the 10 year limitation on IRS collection of what is now $350,000 that I refused openly to pay to the IRS. Chuck’s agenda does not include anything like this, but that was my action as a short term millionaire! You can listen to a little more about my story by finding The Pacifist on Amazon Music and Spotify.

As is now my norm I am reviewing books that I am reading with the help of Claude AI.

Summary

Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet (The New Press, October 2025, 240 pages) is Chuck Collins’ argument that billionaire power touches virtually every dimension of ordinary life — where you live, what you pay for housing, what you eat, and what news you consume. 

Collins, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, chronicles how the actions of the top .01% have severe consequences for the rest of us. He takes down the “myth of meritocracy,” unraveling how the rich rig the game in their favor, resulting in a concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny but growing class of billionaires — leading to intense income and political polarization. 

Using humorous cartoons and striking graphics, Collins demonstrates how the ultra-wealthy have rigged tax policies in their favor, shifting costs onto working people while reducing public funding for schools, roads, and other essential infrastructure. His focus is specifically on households in the top one-tenth of one percent — those with more than $40 million in assets — the approximate threshold at which wealth translates into levels of influence and power that distort democracy. He argues that regardless of how generous or admired individual billionaires may be, the collective existence and actions of this class worsen almost every aspect of life. 

The book concludes with a call to action and a prescription for taking power back from the billionaire class and achieving shared prosperity. 

Assessment

The book has earned blurbs from serious scholars — sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild and historian Nancy MacLean among them — and Collins is a credentialed, long-standing voice in this space. That lends the book real authority.

That said, reader responses are mixed in an instructive way. One Goodreads reviewer found the book “rather one-note,” noting that Collins’ progressive audience likely already agrees with his premises, and that the emotionally dominant, polarizing framing tends to alienate anyone not already perfectly aligned — the same trap that afflicts many expert-written advocacy books.  Another reviewer on the same platform called it a near-perfect blend of scholarship, urgency, and hope — one that doesn’t just diagnose the disease but prescribes a cure. 

The honest verdict: this is a well-researched, accessibly written piece of economic advocacy. Collins knows the data cold, and the visual elements (charts, cartoons, graphics) make it genuinely readable. But it’s advocacy first, analysis second. If you’re already skeptical of concentrated wealth and looking for a well-organized case with policy prescriptions, it delivers. If you’re hoping for something that wrestles seriously with counterarguments or grapples with the complexity of wealth creation, you’ll find it thin. Worth reading alongside something like The Haves and Have-Yachts by Evan Osnos for a broader range of perspective.

[Dean Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regarding poverty and prosperity, ancient Jewish conventional wisdom agrees with current American conventional wisdom: laziness and irresponsible, ungodly behavior lead to poverty; hard work and responsible, godly behavior lead to prosperity. In the Bible, that point of view is most clearly expressed in the little book called Proverbs, where it is a recurring theme.

Beyond conventional wisdom, 2500 years ago, the Judean prophets saw their people as a single community and recognized that a widening economic gap between the poor and the prosperous is a sure sign that righteousness is being neglected, that unrighteousness is on the rise.

“Righteousness” (tzedaqah) is doing right by one another. When the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, you can count on it: righteousness is being neglected, unrighteousness is on the rise. And, according to the prophets, that pisses God off. God is provoked to wrath. And, in the form of some sort of a national calamity, there will be Hell to pay.

According to ancient Judean law, according to Torah, God has provided preventive measures against the unrighteousness of a widening poverty/prosperity divide—and the threat of a national calamity. Among those measures: 1) God commanded Israel to keep the Sabbath, a weekly national day of rest from work for everyone; 2) God prohibited usury, the charging of interest on loans; 3) God commanded all debts to be forgiven every seven years; 4) God commanded all ancestral land to be restored every fifty years, restored according to the original distribution of land among the clans of the tribes of Israel. Note well that measures three and four are commands to redistribute wealth.

In many ways, the Torah recognizes personal property and safeguards personal property. But it never considers personal property an unalienable right. According to Torah, and to the Prophets, and to Proverbs and the rest of the Jewish sacred scriptures, all things belong to God and to God alone—to the One in whom we live and move and have our being. Jesus concurs. Jesus says, “You cannot serve both God and Mammon [you cannot serve both your Creator and the god of private property].”

In twenty-first-century America, we no longer speak of righteousness, of doing right by one another. We do speak of social justice. “Social justice” is a little impersonal, more abstract, but it’s maybe close enough. According to the U.S. Constitution, one of the primary concerns of we the people is to promote the general welfare. We promote the general welfare through social justice, through righteousness, by doing right by one another.

Ancient wisdom still applies. On one level, laziness and irresponsible, ungodly behavior lead to poverty; hard work and responsible, godly behavior lead to prosperity. On another level, when the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, something is terribly wrong. For the general welfare, and to avert a national calamity, we must find a way to redistribute wealth.

The U.S. is not a theocracy, governed by priests and prophets who speak for God. We are a democracy, governed by the consent of the governed. We do not have the option of redistributing wealth in the manner prescribed in ancient Judean law. We do have the option of restoring pre-Reagan-Administration tax laws and business regulations—laws and regulations that promoted the general welfare.

[Chris]

A friend, who started, but hasn’t finished the book, said, “I keep wanting to throw the book against the wall”. To be clear, the fury is because of what the moneyed have wrought, not because of the writing.
Collins enumerates the ways in which wealth works to multiply itself, not for the benefit of others, but to its own aggregation. The United States, as a functioning democracy, was able to curtail and safeguard against the abuses of the power that the wealthy can readily gain through the influence of their money in a capitalist society. With the erosion of our democracy—the greater and greater influence of the affluent in the US political process—billionaires have become the ruling class, and millions of people are struggling with managing basic necessities: shelter, health care, food, employment.
The dim light at the end of this account of how the rich impoverish the rest of us is a few suggestions for opposing the will of the wealthy. They offer meager resistance, but some things you do, not because they’ll change the world, but because you can simply not do anything else.
I consider myself well-informed about the societal and political effects of our current inequalities, but Burned By Billionaires gave me more information about the ways Wealth and its power seek control. That knowledge is valuable.

[Rhea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew billionaires existed and knew that they, say, influenced elections, but I'd had no idea that they infest just about every facet of our lives. This eye-opening book explains in lay language just how dangerous this scenario is. This is the kind of book where, every few pages, you'll find yourself stopping and quoting the facts and analysis to anyone nearby.

I am a dog lover and just found out that the fabulously wealthy Mars family (yes, the candy people) are extracting wealth from taking over pet services all over the country. VCA, their pet-care division, bought my vet's practice -- as well as countless others -- so that they can control the charges for already expensive medical care and procedures. It's a monopoly, but our government has little to no interest in breaking up monopolies.

Much more virulent effects result from billionaires' control: funding of political candidates, influence on tax policy, control of housing, wages, climate policy, and so other critical aspects of our lives.

"Burned by Billionaires" should be required reading for every American.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick impressions: This is a book to read a bit at a time. It is timely, and it is informative. If you want to learn more about how billionaires got where they are now, how they stay there, and what they do to keep their dynasties going, then you need to read this book.

(Full review with reading notes on my blog soon.)

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book, and discussed it with the Timbercrest Contemporary Book Club. It has given me clarity on how much our world is threatened by the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people.

I highly recommend it to others.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear and readable, sort of a 101/quick guide (though it's a little bit longer than a quick guide). I know I won't retain as much as I'd like, so this would be good to read again.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A topic I happen to agree with - as a socialist- but found the stories repeating the same message. Worth the read, but tired of the repeated theme before the end of the book.

[Paulina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book makes the same point over and over again. No nuance. And the simplistic approach makes me question the depth of the thinking.

I expect there is some truth in this book but it wasn't told in a convincing way - unless you already agreed with the point before starting the book.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very black and white, outrage filled approach. Creates this simplified picture of the undeserving billionaires and how they exploit the system and the deserving poor who run the world and get nothing in return. The world is not like that and billionaires are not a species. People do good and bad things. Our system is not very good at channelling power to those who do good which is why there are girls turning 18 and selling porn on only fans (website for women selling explicit material) and making literal millions a day. At the same time the system also channels money to Elon Musk thanks to whom we can launch satellites more cheaply. Guess which one the author complains about in the book. Instead of concentrating on how to stop evil billionaires from coming into existence maybe it would be more worthwhile on optimising the system for the former instead of abolishing it and getting neither.

[Ava · Rating 4 out of 5]

99 Problems, 1 Cause

It’s all the billionaires’ fault. From the skyrocketing cost of college to the inability to buy a home, from the crumbling infrastructure of our roads and bridges to the bankruptcy-inducing price of healthcare, so many of our society’s woes can be attributed to the billionaire class and the plutocracy in which they made of our world.

In Chuck Collins’ latest book, you’ll see how over the past 50 years, the ultra-wealthy have instituted the greatest theft imaginable, using their wealth as influence to cut taxes on themselves and force the rest of us to pick up the slack. Through clear, concise chapters on the myriad ways billionaires have reshaped our society to favor themselves at the cost of the rest of us, not to mention our democracy, Collins crafts a compelling narrative of what happened, how it affects us all, and what we can do about it.

For those unfamiliar with his work, Collins himself was set to inherit a small fortune but turned it down; he wanted to fight for income equality and did not want to have what he didn’t earn himself. His masterpiece of a book “Born on Third Base” is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and his continued advocacy for a just, fair society makes him an American hero.

[Sheris225 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chuck Collins has a congenial and clever voice. He is clear about the world that we live in. This book is not sanctimonious or preachy. But it does lay out with clarity and some wit just how steep the wealth injustice around us is. And more importantly how it impacts all of us and every part of our lives. First, he opens our eyes and then he gives us a passel of policy solutions with which to make change in our world. An infinitely valuable book.
Thank you Chuck Collins for your work.