Born on Third Base

I’m really enjoying this book so far. The introduction captured my attention immediately, because I’m very interested in learning more about wealth inequality in the United States. My grandfather is a Democrat and a fervent believer in the sharing of wealth. He believes the rich should be taxed more to help support lower-income Americans who were born into poverty. Interestingly, my parents and my grandmother are Republicans and they believe the rich should have lower taxes. When people ask where I stand, I tell them that I don’t know enough about politics to make an educated and informed decision- and that I didn't want to blindly adopt the same political beliefs as my parents. But this book has given me great insight as to why my grandfather is a Democrat.  

From what I’ve read so far, I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Chuck Collins. I’m fascinated by the fact that he gave away his 500K trust funds at the age of 26! To be honest, I don't know if I would do the same if I had that sort of trust fund. Collins claims that his decision to do so enabled him to live a life that was more aligned to his values. The first thing that came to mind when reading that portion was the Genius of Money. In that book, Mr. John Bloom stated that the only people who should have money are those who know how to handle it, because too often people’s actions contradict their values when they have accumulated a great deal of wealth. However, it seems that Mr. Collins’ values and actions are perfectly aligned, which I admire.

One thing that Mr. Collins highlights is the fact that we need to “unlearn” certain values. For example, the myth of disconnection implies, an injury to others doesn’t really matter to me. But this is so wrong! We need to unlearn these values in order to uplift those who are less fortunate than us, and to ultimately build a healthy society. The top 1% has a deep sense of privilege, which boosts their sense of importance and often makes them narcotic. This, in turn, disconnects them from the lower class and makes them feel very apathetic towards struggles faced by lower-class. So far this book has given be a fresh perspective on wealth inequality, and I can't wait to read more.