Summary of P. J. O'Rourke's Eat the Rich

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 Humans have a difficult time understanding economics, and this is because we are constantly concerned with the three main issues of life: love, death, and money. We are constantly studying and thinking about these matters.

#2 We are earnest scholars of amorosity and necrosis, but when it comes to economics, we become vague and fidgety. We don’t seem to mind where our money comes from or where it goes. We simply wish we had more money.

#3 Our reactions to cash are crazy even when the cash belongs to strangers. We don’t ridicule people for dying, but we can work ourselves into a fit of rage when a man gets rich quickly and we don’t understand how he did it.

#4 The 1970s was a time of economic change and fever inflation. The most powerful nations in the world had an amazing collection of economic nincompoops at their helm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669363811

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on P.J. O'Rourke's Eat the Rich

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 1

#1

Humans have a difficult time understanding economics, and this is because we are constantly concerned with the three main issues of life: love, death, and money. We are constantly studying and thinking about these matters.

#2

We are earnest scholars of amorosity and necrosis, but when it comes to economics, we become vague and fidgety. We don’t seem to mind where our money comes from or where it goes. We simply wish we had more money.

#3

Our reactions to cash are crazy even when the cash belongs to strangers. We don’t ridicule people for dying, but we can work ourselves into a fit of rage when a man gets rich quickly and we don’t understand how he did it.

#4

The 1970s was a time of economic change and fever inflation. The most powerful nations in the world had an amazing collection of economic nincompoops at their helm.

#5

I had covered politics for years, and I realized that money was to politicians what the eucalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter, and something to crap on. I made a few of the normal journalistic squeaks about greed and self-interest, and let the thing slide.

#6

I was not reassured to learn that the men who run the companies where my 401(k)s are invested have minds filled with junk from the attic of Paul Samuelson’s Economics.

#7

I decided to visit different economic systems: free market, socialist, and systems that no one could figure out. I would visit economically successful societies and economically unsuccessful societies.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The New York Stock Exchange is the largest trading center for investments. The prices have been rising triumphantly, which is proof of free-market capitalism. But the triumph may not