“BURNED BY BILLIONAIRES” Examines Disruptive Impact of Billionaires and Concentrated Wealth on Everyday Life
For planning purposes ahead of October 7, 2025
Contacts: Olivia Alperstein, IPS, olivia@ips-dc.org
Josh Zajdman, TNP, jzajdman@thenewpress.org, 646.792.7262
“Clear and punchy, Collins has written a strong spur to action,” said Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.
October 7, New York City – Burned by Billionaires is a scathing exposé about the hidden impact of America’s ultra-wealthy on our economic, political and ecological landscape – as well as a path toward a more equitable future. Kirkus calls it, “An informed and measured exploration of the myriad harms billionaires impose.”
Published by The New Press, the book is authored by veteran inequality researcher and campaigner, Chuck Collins.
In a wholly original argument, Collins shows how concentrations of wealth and power cause or inflame enormous personal harms on the rest of us: increasing the tax burden on ordinary working people; reducing public funding for schools, roads, and other essential infrastructure; shrinking the pool of affordable housing; and accelerating climate change with outsize emissions from super-polluting yachts and private jets. Perhaps worst of all, the concentration of wealth and power is leading to political capture, undermining the democratic principle that our votes matter equally
“An economy that funnels wealth to billionaires is bad for your health, your pocketbook, your housing options, and the quality of your environment,” said author Chuck Collins. “It robs you of your political voice while dictating what’s in the news and on your dinner plate. It supercharges and inflames existing divides in our society, and fuels division and civil discord.
“My hope is readers will understand in new ways how these extreme inequalities are touching our lives personally and undermining our communities and planet. The billionaires are plundering the real economy, extracting wealth from a healthy economy of goods, services, and production.
Collins directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits www.inequality.org. He is the author of numerous books and reports on the effects of extreme inequality, tax policy, philanthropy, and the environment. He is also a founding board member of the Patriotic Millionaires and a trustee of the Post Carbon Institute
Collins is the author of over ten books about inequality, philanthropy, and environmental issues. These include, co-authored by Bill Gates, Sr., Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why American Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes (Beacon, 2003), a case for taxing extreme fortunes. His 2021 book, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Spend Millions to Hide Trillions (Polity), explores the industry that aids the wealthy in hiding money and minimizing taxation. He is the author of the popular book, Born on Third Base, a personal narrative about class advantage. His other books and writing can be found at www.chuckcollinswrites.com and at the Institute for Policy Studies author page: https://ips-dc.org/ips_author/chuck-collins/.
Burned by Billionaires chronicles how the actions of the top .01% have severe consequences for the rest of us. In chapters including “Road Map to Richistan” and “What Created So Many New Billionaries?,” Collins takes down the “myth of meritocracy,” showing how the rich rig the game in their favor, resulting in an increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny (but growing) class of billionaires. Lively chapters feature charts, graphs, political cartoons, and more.
A final chapter on “An Agenda to Reduce Billionaire Power” offers concrete prescriptions for taking power back from the billionaire class and achieving a shared prosperity economy. Collins envisions a more equitable society, where everyone has access to the resources that will allow them to thrive—and one where it is no longer commonplace to live in a constant state of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety.
Duke professor Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains, writes, “An incisive must-read account of how we are all being hurt by those with excessive wealth, Burned by Billionaires also provides hard-won wisdom about what can be done to unrig the system before they wreck our world.”
Book Web site: www.burnedbybillionaires.com
Author web site: Chuckcollinswrites.com
Institute for Policy Studies: Burned by Billionaires
The New Press: Book Page for Burned by Billionaires
Kirkus: Review of Burned by Billionaires
Chuck Collins: Clue on Jeopardy
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