Book 2 Post 1

Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good by Chuck Collins

I’ve really enjoyed this book so far. 

I initially chose Born on Third Base because while I have always recognized that economic inequality exists, I haven’t really ever believed it was inherently a bad thing. My grandparents immigrated as refugees from the Vietnam War with nothing, and through their hard work – and their hard work alone, I had always believed – they built a middle class lifestyle that they were proud of. 

After getting halfway through Collins’ piece, my mind still isn’t changed that the frugality and unrelenting work ethic of my grandparents was instrumental in the building the wealth they enjoy today. However, I’m now starting to realize the structures around them that enabled that correlation to exist in the first place. 

They existed for them, they existed for my parents, though to a lesser extent, and they still exist in some form for me. 

Perhaps one of the most powerful myths Collins seeks to dispel in this piece is the “Great Man Theory of Wealth Creation,” where all of the success of someone is attributed to how much more hardworking and prudent they are than the next guy. 

This line of thinking is intoxicating because it contains kernels of truth. In the majority of times, it requires intent to amass wealth, social capital, power, among other things. 

However, what this line of thinking so often ignores is the structures around these “Great Men” that enabled their intent to materialize into their end goals. One line of thinking the author presents is that of a WWII veteran who returns from the war to a free education through the GI Bill, a lower-rate mortgage subsidized by the government, and investment into his small business through another government program. Clearly, this man has been assisted by the government (and for good reason).

What many, including myself, fail to realize is the compounding nature of this government investment. Because this veteran became a homeowner and had a sucessful small business, he was able to build wealth to pass on to his offspring – maybe their college education was paid for by the veteran’s bank account instead of the government’s. Now that the veteran’s children have gotten a college education, they go on to higher-paying jobs, which translates into enough money for the veteran’s grandchildren to go to preschool and private schools growing up. 

And this compounds and compounds, leaving those without this initial government investment (people of color predominantly) farther and farther behind.

What I’m excited to learn about in the second half of this book is Collins’ ideas for remedying this gap. 


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