This is 100% an American book. The cultural ethos of America is permeated by the ideas of opportunity, entrepreneurship, and wealth. While the rich are hated universally, the country that hates them the least is USA. While the recent neo-lib and neo-con administrations has contributed to rich being increasingly hated, there are several reasons for the typical American mind set. Given the vast resources in the early days of discovery of Americas, the spirit of entrepreneurship was encouraged. During the American gilded age, and the wild west, a lot of rags to riches stories captured the public imagination. A culmination of all these stories is the coining of the term 'American Dream'.
This book piggybacks on the popularity of obtaining wealth and sells a capitalist narrative. In this narrative, the protagonist is the product of two ideologies, one is a state-dependent socialist and second is a crony capitalist. The protagonist conveniently picks and chooses the "nicities" of these two ideologies, but paints a picture that it is better to be a capitalist than be a socialist. The language is simple, direct, and sometimes downright casually rude. You need not have a sophisticated grasp on the English language, nor you need to be able to parse complex sentences to read this book.
This book is a quick read. While reading some of the lines, you might wonder 'how is this even legal', I am glad that the author says it as it is. The author does not hide his disdain for taxation, nor does he rationalize the fact that all of his money and expenses are managed through a corporation. In fact, the author encourages everyone to use all of the legally available instruments to avoid paying taxes. The tone of the author is such that, you are being unwise to not do the same, because the rich are using all of these instruments anyway. Finally, the author emphasizes that there are a lot of opportunities around everyone and it is the fear of losing money that prevents someone from investing and enjoying the monetary upsides.
At a fundamental level, I agree with only one point raised in the book: do not depend on a job for your wealth. Having grown up in India, I have seen many people obsessed with getting a government job. Most people say that there is job security in government jobs. I am just flabbergasted that two generations, independence and post-independence generation of people, did not understand a very very simple fact: government has money because it collects taxes from private enterprises. The death of private enterprises is the death of wealth of a country. Of course, the colonial rule for 200 years and the post-colonial communist rule for 50 years helped foster this mindset. Being an employee of several state governments, I do see the irony of making such a statement. However, I understand the value of private enterprise and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Please do not think that one skill or one job will help you through out your life. As a researcher, I have to reinvent myself every 5 years and work in a different domain.
That is where my agreement with the book ends. The author has a very very narrow perspective of wealth. He thinks wealth is all about having money or being rich, which is a widely held belief. I think wealth if multi-dimensional. In Hinduism, the Goddess (with a capital G, deal with it) of wealth, Lakshmi, has several forms (more specifically, eight forms and only one of them is the monetary form). While I agree with the emphasis on financial literacy, the author does not provide the necessary financial literacy. Apparently, we need to register in more courses, i.e., give the author more money, to achieve the financial literacy. There is an under-emphasis and discouragement to learn more and more advanced skills because it leads to narrow opportunities. I disagree; a nation simply does not become technologically advanced without its citizenry actively encouraging and valuing advanced skills. I understand the use of individuals who have a wide range of expertise and narrow depth, but I wouldn't encourage the entire population to go after that route. I hope that enterprising capitalists pay the experts fairly and create new products and generate wealth.
Read this book if you have never worked in private enterprise or have never thought about starting your own company. If you have any moderate understanding of wealth and value addition, then, avoid this book. I think this book is more like a stepping stone for emphasizing financial literacy and listening to ideas different from your own.
This book piggybacks on the popularity of obtaining wealth and sells a capitalist narrative. In this narrative, the protagonist is the product of two ideologies, one is a state-dependent socialist and second is a crony capitalist. The protagonist conveniently picks and chooses the "nicities" of these two ideologies, but paints a picture that it is better to be a capitalist than be a socialist. The language is simple, direct, and sometimes downright casually rude. You need not have a sophisticated grasp on the English language, nor you need to be able to parse complex sentences to read this book.
This book is a quick read. While reading some of the lines, you might wonder 'how is this even legal', I am glad that the author says it as it is. The author does not hide his disdain for taxation, nor does he rationalize the fact that all of his money and expenses are managed through a corporation. In fact, the author encourages everyone to use all of the legally available instruments to avoid paying taxes. The tone of the author is such that, you are being unwise to not do the same, because the rich are using all of these instruments anyway. Finally, the author emphasizes that there are a lot of opportunities around everyone and it is the fear of losing money that prevents someone from investing and enjoying the monetary upsides.
At a fundamental level, I agree with only one point raised in the book: do not depend on a job for your wealth. Having grown up in India, I have seen many people obsessed with getting a government job. Most people say that there is job security in government jobs. I am just flabbergasted that two generations, independence and post-independence generation of people, did not understand a very very simple fact: government has money because it collects taxes from private enterprises. The death of private enterprises is the death of wealth of a country. Of course, the colonial rule for 200 years and the post-colonial communist rule for 50 years helped foster this mindset. Being an employee of several state governments, I do see the irony of making such a statement. However, I understand the value of private enterprise and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Please do not think that one skill or one job will help you through out your life. As a researcher, I have to reinvent myself every 5 years and work in a different domain.
That is where my agreement with the book ends. The author has a very very narrow perspective of wealth. He thinks wealth is all about having money or being rich, which is a widely held belief. I think wealth if multi-dimensional. In Hinduism, the Goddess (with a capital G, deal with it) of wealth, Lakshmi, has several forms (more specifically, eight forms and only one of them is the monetary form). While I agree with the emphasis on financial literacy, the author does not provide the necessary financial literacy. Apparently, we need to register in more courses, i.e., give the author more money, to achieve the financial literacy. There is an under-emphasis and discouragement to learn more and more advanced skills because it leads to narrow opportunities. I disagree; a nation simply does not become technologically advanced without its citizenry actively encouraging and valuing advanced skills. I understand the use of individuals who have a wide range of expertise and narrow depth, but I wouldn't encourage the entire population to go after that route. I hope that enterprising capitalists pay the experts fairly and create new products and generate wealth.
Read this book if you have never worked in private enterprise or have never thought about starting your own company. If you have any moderate understanding of wealth and value addition, then, avoid this book. I think this book is more like a stepping stone for emphasizing financial literacy and listening to ideas different from your own.
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