Book reviews on global economy and geopolitical readings. ESADEgeo, under the supervision of Professor Javier Solana and Professor Javier Santiso.

Transcription

1 Book reviews on global economy and geopolitical readings ESADEgeo, under the supervision of Professor Javier Solana and Professor Javier Santiso.

2 Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else Freeland, Chrystia. (2012) The Penguin Press, USA. Summary In for 99% of Americans, incomes increased by a mere 2.3%. Meanwhile, the incomes of the top 1% jumped by 11.6%. The archetypal member of the super elite is an aggressive, intensely educated, mathematician, the son of middle- or uppermidle class parents, who made his first fortune young. The top 10% average income is four times that of the bottom 90 percent, the top 1% have a MPI (material power index) of 15, but when you get to the top 0.1%, the MPI jumps to 124. As the people at the very top become ever richer, they have an ever greater ability to tilt the rules of the game in their favor. The Occupy Wall Street movement is targeting the richest 1%. But beyond this group of millionaires there is now a new group of billionaires, the 0.1% of people whose incomes are more than 380 times the average income of their country. The gulf between this new elite, and those more traditionally described as millionaires, is widening every year thanks to the high-tech revolution, and a globalisation that has opened the doors to greater geographical diversification in commerce. Both factors have enabled this new elite to multiply over the last couple of decades. Chrystia Freeland describes this new breed of super-rich individuals, or plutocrats. She discovers where their wealth comes from, what they do, how and when they reached the top, and how they see the rest of us. Plutocrats include the technology elite from Silicon Valley, Wall Street financial sharks, Russian oligarchs, and investment geniuses such as George Soros. As a group, they share certain traits such as studying at prestigious universities and amassing their fortune before the age of 30. Unlike the magnates of the first golden age of the Industrial Revolution, today s plutocrats became rich by working, and continue working despite having amassed fabulous fortunes. This top-tier of 0.1% has developed major charitable activities that differ from the simple donations of the past. By leading foundations and projects, these plutocrats project their business strategies in charitable directions as part of a sincere desire to 1

3 change the world according to their rules. These rules, secured by the tax advantages granted to them by governments, help them believe that what is good for them is good for the entire economy. These plutocrats form a new elite and their various idiosyncrasies deserve more study as their economic, social, and political power continues to grow. The author Chrystia Freeland studied at Harvard and Oxford and is currently editor of Thomson Reuters Digital. She was previously U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times and deputy editor of The Globe and Mail in Toronto. She has also written for the The Economist, International Herald Tribune, and The Washington Post. Her previous book, Sale of a Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution, analysed the Russian road from communism to capitalism. Basic idea and opinion As an economic journalist, Chrystia Freeland spent two decades studying the superrich or plutocrats as Citigroup described them in a report recommending their clients actively target these individuals. These plutocrats represent just 0.1% of the population and owe their fortunes to capitalism, the technological revolution, and globalisation. Freeland cites numerous economic reports in her book, as well as her interviews with experts and plutocrats such as George Soros and Mikhail Khodorkovsky. She paints a complete and fascinating profile of these billionaires who, year after year, grow in number and influence. According to Freeland, the divide is no longer between rich and poor, but between the rich and the super-rich. What is more, the gap continues to widen at breakneck speed. This elite travels by private jet between homes scattered around the world. As a group, they mostly received technical educations at prestigious universities and established their fortunes while still in their twenties. Unlike many millionaires in the first golden age, they have succeeded thanks to their own work and enterprise. The epicentres of their businesses are Silicon Valley, or the global financial sector, with investment geniuses such as Soros. Freeland distinguishes between the two golden ages underway today: the second is taking place in the West, and is led by the high-tech revolution and globalisation; while a first golden age is being experienced in the emerging nations. The combination of these two golden ages has enabled many of the plutocrats to occupy their current positions, says Freeland. Moreover, she points out that today s plutocrats are very different to the hereditary millionaires of the nineteenth century. Today s elite is involved and opinionated: they want to change the world with their charitable 2

4 foundations and they believe that they possess special abilities to lead the economy and political debate due to their independence from the rest of society. Freeland s style is easy to follow and her book is well documented. It is sprinkled with little known aspects of the lives of the new elite, such as the superstars which emerge in the plutocrats orbits and the multi-million dollar signings of CEOs of the major corporations. Freeland emphasises the dangers posed by these self-proclaimed princes. Given that many of these plutocrats are convinced that what is good for them is good for the economy, they fall into the error of wanting to control the system for their own benefit, or to impose their own worldview. This warning is the conclusion of a comprehensive study of a group which can pull strings behind the curtains of power and has not yet received the attention it deserves. Two simultaneous golden ages Freeland begins her portrait of plutocrats by making an interesting comparison with the golden age after the industrial revolution, when the great magnates were the first modern millionaires. Today, the world is experiencing two golden ages, a second golden age for Western markets and a first golden age for emerging countries. The Western golden age began in the 1970s, when the super-rich began to put distance between themselves and the rest, a distance that continues to widen decade after decade. Between 2009 and 2010, for example, 99% of Americans enjoyed income increases of a mere 2.3%, while the top 1% increased their income by 11.6%. The super-rich have been helped by various political decisions to reduce taxes on their fortunes. Freeland makes this point repeatedly throughout the book, signalling this factor as a real danger behind the rise of the plutocrats. The difference between the magnates of the first golden age and the current superrich is that today s billionaires have built their wealth on their own work, are highly educated, and wave the flag of meritocracy. As both the West and emerging markets are benefitting from golden ages, there is a mutual feedback that is enriching the economic systems and the billionaires. The author offers Apple as an example, where most of the jobs created by the company are in China, yet most of the profits flow to America in salaries for engineers and company executives. Plutocratic culture The new phenomenon we see among the super-rich is that 60% of their income comes from salaries. For the top 0.01%, the pay cheque is more important than income from accumulated capital. The battle between capital and talent will be a key struggle in the century ahead and talent seems to be winning. In fact, according to the Forbes 2012 list, 840 of the 1226 billionaires were self-made. This fact improves their image and helps justify their status and influence. According to Freeland, the prototype member 3

5 of the super-rich is a well-educated mathematician, the son of middle-class or uppermiddle parents, who made his first fortune at a very young age. The high-tech revolution, a key driver in the rise of the plutocrats, has produced a new dimension of wealth and a particular type of billionaire: the young geniuses of Silicon Valley, led by Mark Zuckerberg. They show that a good education at a prestigious university has become more valuable, and that rapid technological development can enable somebody to become very rich at a very young age. These tee-shirt and jeans millionaires share the same status as financiers and investors. They also boast an international profile, which gives them a jet-set lifestyle with business interests dotted around the world. Another interesting feature that Freeland highlights is the idealisation of some of the super-rich such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or George Soros. The super-rich see their charitable activities as a mission with a community-building aspect which they develop at various international conferences. An example of this phenomenon is what Bill Gates terms philanthropic capitalism an activity that may provide him with some moral justification, but can also be seen as an attempt to gain social acceptance and even immortality. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Soros Foundation are examples of this growing trend. This approach to charity has also meant the application of successful business skills to charitable activities. These plutocrats do not attempt to simply help social sectors in need, but to transform those sectors by advising state officials or changing the ideology of some state departments. This can become dangerous, when this philanthropic capitalism is used to fund political agendas and safeguard class interests. At this point the real divide comes to light not between rich and poor, but between rich and super-rich, between the 1% and 0.1%. The average income of the 1% is 15 times the income received by 90% of society, while the average income of the superrich is 124 times higher. This difference may have political consequences because until now, all of the rich had felt themselves to be in the same club. However, the club is now showing cracks because a select few have reached unattainable levels thanks in part to tax breaks that the 1% see as unfair. Global superstars Another new species arising from the arrival of the plutocracy are the superstars. The superstar effect defines the rise of those who have combined the high-tech revolution and globalisation, the two most important drivers in the creation of an exclusive elite. Freeland points to an amalgam of professionals from various sectors whose wealth now approaches that of the super-rich. Lawyers such as David Boies, starchitects such as Frank Gehry, chefs, designers, and even doctors or dentists who, in return for their services, send huge bills to an elite with plenty of money to spend. 4

6 As an example, Freeland explains how Arkady, a Russian oligarch, paid Lady Gaga a million dollars to appear in her Alejandro video. CEOs also are superstars, many of whom have shifted the perception that the earnings of a bank or fund s owner should be light years ahead of the salaries of its executives. In fact, 40% of Americans earning over $30 million are from the financial and investment sector. These CEOs sell their services to the highest bidder or mutual fund and become star signings. Superstars are different because they are in charge of the company that pays their salary. Criticism of these funds has multiplied with the crisis, but their status seems untouchable. Reacting to revolutions is essential To become a plutocrat, the ability to anticipate and take advantage of global change is essential. A clear example is George Soros, who predicted the 2008 crisis to the disbelief of the fat cats in Wall Street and consequently managed to minimise damage to his fortune. The technological and economic revolution in emerging markets is the new status quo but not everyone knows how to respond. According to Freeland, the fittest are those who went to public schools and then Harvard (Zuckerberg, for example), or Russian oligarchs from outsider sectors of Soviet society but educated in good universities. The ability to respond quickly to a revolution created the crack between the super-elite and the rest. There was, for example, no better place than Moscow in the 1990s to take advantage of the revolutionary changes and grab a piece of the action. For these entrepreneurs, crisis means opportunity. The best strategies to follow in period of rapid change are illustrated by pivotal firms, such as Google, Groupon, PayPal or Flickr. Rent-seekers Freeland has dedicated a chapter to the other super-rich, the rent-seekers. These individuals take advantage of an economic and political system. Several examples can be found in India, a country replete with private fortunes. However, many of these fortunes are not the result of contributing something of value to the economic system; but are the result of a proximity to government. These rent-seekers use their influence to change the rules of the economy. Here we find, for example, the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, with a fortune of $69 billion, or 6% of the total Mexican GDP. Slim built his fortune by using his telecommunication companies to exploit the Mexican privatisation process. His empire was built on his ability to influence the economic rules. China, however, deserves a separate analysis because the rent-seekers positioned near to the government are not dirty players, but parts of a system itself. China did not undergo a rapid change to capitalism in the same way as the Soviet Union: its 5

7 process was gradual and most of the wealth remains in government hands. Moreover, Chinese millionaires are much more discreet than their counterparts in other countries. This is because they are aware of the dangers that fame can bring in a nation whose rulers have mixed feeling about the existence of plutocrats. Wall Street rent-seekers, the global stock market professionals, are a different breed. Finance degrees are currently the most popular university course given that the financial sector has provided the greatest number of members of the super elite. Financial deregulation has been crucial for the continuing rise of the plutocracy, allowing individuals to rise from the financial sector to the super elite. Governments in London and Washington have played a key role in the emergence of these billionaires and generated a legal corruption that changes the rules of the game. Those nations with the most members in the top-tier (America, China, Russia, and India) are also those nations that most frequently practice these types of rule-changing activities and where there is a constant exchange of roles between legislator and legislated. Finally, rent-seeking has enjoyed another major transformation and now easily travels around the globe. A fortune created in one country can affect a geographically distant nation, and the same occurs with legal corruption. The danger After a complete analysis, Chrystia Freeland concludes that there is a real danger that the top-tier of 0.1% could take the reins of power and develop an extractive rather than inclusive society. As the super-rich become even richer, so their power to influence economic rules will grow ever greater and harder to resist. Although it is dangerous to divide between good and bad plutocrats, Freeland argues that it is useful to distinguish between value-creators and rent-seekers in order to decide whether an economy is extractive or inclusive. Creating an inclusive economic system means making more opportunities for productive companies, and fewer opportunities for rent-seekers. The difficulty, however, is to distinguish who is and who is not creating value because the difference between good and bad can be very small and everyone is jostling for competitive advantages. The question, Freeland rightly points out, is not whether a nation s businesses are good or bad, but whether a nation has the supervisory structure to make businesses follow the rules. Globalisation and the technological revolution have decreased the pressure on plutocrats to maintain an inclusive state with a solid middle class to support their business activities. Today s plutocrats can find other middle classes in emerging countries to develop their activities. However, destroying the economic systems that created the super-rich in the first place may be unwise and catastrophic in the longterm. The only doubt is whether the wisdom of preserving the existing economic systems is sufficiently obvious to a super-elite that has become used to ever more frantic deal-making. 6