Summary of Matthew Stewart's The 9.9 Percent

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Matthew Stewart's The 9.9 Percent in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: In 21st century America, the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90% have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9% that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country—and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system.

They log insane hours at the office and then turn their leisure time into an excuse for more career-building, even as they rely on an underpaid servant class to power their economic success and satisfy their personal needs. They have segregated themselves into zip codes designed to exclude as many people as possible. They have made fitness a national obsession even as swaths of the population lose healthcare and grow sicker. They have created an unprecedented demand for admission to elite schools and helped to fuel the dramatic cost of higher education. They channel their political energy into symbolic conflicts over identity in order to avoid acknowledging the economic roots of their privilege. And they have created an ethos of “merit” to justify their advantages. They are all around us. In fact, they are us—or what we are supposed to want to be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669341918

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Matthew Stewart's The 99 Percent

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

When you are young, the past seems very far away, and maybe a little comical. As you get older, though, the past starts to feel more real, and more like a warning of what could have been.

#2

We've all experienced this sense of deja vu. The so-called arc of the moral universe seems to have developed a dark sense of humor. We create our own circumstances in life, but it is more accurate to say that our circumstances create us.

#3

Inequality is often viewed as something that exists between the rich and the poor, when in reality it exists within ourselves - we all have an idea of what it feels like to be rich, but we never actually get there.

#4

The top 0. 1 percent have seen their wealth grow dramatically over the past fifty years, while the bottom 90 percent have seen their share in the nation’s wealth decrease.

#5

The 9. 9 percent of the world’s population that lives in the United States has a collective net worth of $30 trillion. They are mostly white and professional, and they believe that the system works in their favor.

#6

The American Dream is now more than twice as difficult to achieve, and the majority of that is down to the fact that the top 0. 1 percent have all the money while the remaining 99 percent are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of living.

#7

The 9. 9 percent is no exception to the fact that all consciousness is local. 9 percent is the closest to the top of the economic hill, and as such, it attracts the most attention.

#8

The 9. 9 percent is more of a mindset than a group of people. It is a way of thinking and a system of values that has permeated American society and shaped the lives of everyone, not just the wealthy.