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The High-Beta Rich by Robert Frank
The High-Beta Rich by Robert Frank
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The High-Beta Rich: How the Manic Wealthy Will Take Us to the Next Boom, Bubble, and Bust
by Robert Frank
The rich are not just getting richer; they are becoming a more dangerous and unstable force in the economy. In The High-Beta Rich, renowned Wealth Reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Robert Frank, provides a disturbing and insightful analysis of how the top one percent has become the most volatile element in the American economy.
This new elite, once a model of financial propriety, has embarked on a wild ride of economic binges, fueled by asset bubbles and soaring stock prices. As they control more than a third of the country's wealth, their increasing vulnerability to market booms and busts has national consequences, wreaking havoc on our consumer economy, financial markets, employment opportunities, and government finances.
Through vivid storytelling, Frank takes readers inside the mortgaged mansions and wrecked lives that are the result of this new economic instability. He shares dramatic examples, from a couple who frittered away a fortune on a 90,000-square-foot house to the repo men now repossessing private jets and yachts. He also examines how communities like Aspen have become stratified and how California's budget crisis is linked to the volatile incomes of its tech tycoons.
Frank's analysis brilliantly shows that "high-beta wealth" is not just a high-class problem. It's a national one, proving that America's dependence on the rich plus great volatility among the rich equals a more volatile America.
high-beta rich
1. a newly discovered personality type of the American upper class prone to wild swings in wealth.
2. the winners (and occasional losers) in an economy that creates wealth from financial markets, asset bubbles, and deals.
3. a new Potemkin plutocracy that hides a mountain of debt behind the image of success and is one crisis away from losing their mansions, private jets, and yachts.
About the Author
Robert Frank is the Wealth Reporter for The Wall Street Journal and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Richistan. His blog, The Wealth Report, was named by Time magazine as one of the nation's most influential business blogs. He is a leading authority on wealth and a frequent contributor to NPR, ABC News, and Fox Business.
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