THE ULTRA RICH: How Much Is Too Much?

by Vance Packard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 1988

Social-science gadfly and free-lance Cassandra Packard (The Status Seekers, The Hidden Persuaders, The Sexual Wilderness, etc.) is back, this time with the thesis that some Americans have more money than is good for anyone. There's substance enough here for an interesting, if uncontroversial, magazine article, but Packard has padded his material to book length with ""evidence"" that just escapes being Lifestyles-of-the-Rich-and-Shameless voyeurism. Packard convincingly asserts a growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, with private fortunes reaching proportionately greater sizes than ever before. This, he suggests, is not good for the economy. He then presents interviews with 30 ""ultra-rich' individuals (average net worth of $330 million) to demonstrate how the wealthy view, use, and protect their wealth. There's crass pleasure in reading about the rich, but the information here isn't that surprising (real-estate mogul Sarah Korein's ""secret"": ""I always look for good location and good quality building""), and Packard expects jaws to drop each time the rich demonstrate they're different from you and me, or that they just have more money (there's evidence of both). Packard's points are that they have more than they need; they could maintain the same life-style for under one million a year; it's not good for their kids to inherit it; and money tied up to protect fortunes drains the economy. In a brief final section, he suggests a net wealth tax instead of income tax, and a cap on personal fortunes. Weak muckraking, then, with proffered solutions to this serious problem either naive or old hat. Ultimately, a trivial book that could, however, because of its glitzy subject, find scads of readers.

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION