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

Praise for Born on Third Base

A call to action for Americas wealthy and a warning shot across the bows of their yachts if they fail to act, Born on Third Base offers a clear and compelling case for why the privileged and powerful must act to reverse widening inequality of income, wealth, and political power in America.

Robert B. Reich, former US Secretary of Labor; author of Saving Capitalism

This is the engaging story of a courageous rich white guy who gave it all away, journeyed to the dark heart of inequality and deprivation in America, and became a leading thinker and activist for something much better for all of us, including the rich. Collins doesnt disappoint. He is the real deal.

James Gustave Speth, author of America the Possible and Angels by the River

I have never read a story remotely like the one Chuck Collins has to tell. Born to the one percent, in circumstances few of us can imagine, he grew an outsized conscience and gave up his inherited wealth for a life of fighting the vicious inequality that is destroying our country. Somewhere along the way, he came to understand that the rich can be part of the solution instead of the problem and started organizing them to join in the struggle for a fair economy. The result is an electrifying challenge to the affluent as well as the one percent. Come out of your gated communities and gated hearts, he writes, because outside lies the warmth of human solidarity.

Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

Chuck Collins has already organized the rich against their own immediate economic interest. He and his colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies were instrumental in blocking the Republican repeal of the federal estate tax for the wealthy. So when he writes in Born on Third Base about all the good that can come from the enlightened rich pressing for justice, not just charity, he speaks from experience as both an organizer and a former affluent heir. Partly autobiographical, this empowering light into a brighter future is a narrative you wont want to miss. Chuck Collins walks the talk and can motivate, if anyone is able to, the super rich to fund systemic drives for change.

Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, author, lawyer

Sobering and inspiring, Chuck Collins has written a Declaration of Interdependence. A must-read for anyone on third base who has forgotten that theyre part of a team.

Peter Buffett, copresident, NoVo Foundation; author of Life is What You Make It

The American dream assures us that, if you work hard and play by the rules, youll succeed. But the facts tell a different story: Everyone knows the system is rigged. In these trickle-down times, income inequality threatens to pit the 99 percent against the 1 percent in violent revolutionand, really, who can blame them? My fellow plutocrat Chuck Collins gets it. Born on Third Base explodes the myth of the self-made man, but it also celebrates true achievement in the classic American sense. This isnt some self-hating rich guy; Collins has thought seriously about what it means to be a citizen, and to be a patriot. He makes the case that we all do better when we all do better, and he does it with compassion and humor. This book would give Ayn Rand nightmares.

Nick Hanauer, venture capitalist; coauthor of The True Patriot and The Gardens of Democracy

Chuck Collins does the soul-searching, fundamental work of reminding us all that wealth inequality and injustice make everyones life worse, including those of us who are supposedly better off. No matter what your class background, Collinss work is an insight into and inspiring call to action for why we all need to be two feet into the fight for a more just worldone that is based on shared prosperity and community, not individualized notions of success. People and the planet literally depend on it.

Jessie Spector, executive director, Resource Generation

Collins, born to great privilege, takes a thoughtful, well-written, and carefully researched approach to solving the extreme imbalance in wealth distribution, directed toward one- and 99-percenters alike.... What Collins does even better than describing the challenge is, in the books second half, outlining significant and specific solutions.... Wherever readers fall on the economic scale, this is a worthwhile book to read, digest, and share.

Publishers Weekly

There are few tasks as urgent as a radical reorientation of the 1 percent, a radical re-engagement of us with themand a radical redeployment of the wealth created over the past century in order to address the problems of the next. Chuck Collins is our personal guide.

Woody Tasch, founder, Slow Money Institute; author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money

No one explains inequality better than Chuck Collins, and no one walks his talk with more integrity. All Americansrich, poor, and in the shrinking middlewill benefit from his insights and be inspired by his example.

Peter Barnes, cofounder, CREDO Mobile; author of With Liberty and Dividends For All

Chuck Collins may have been born on third base, but he hits a grand slam with this powerful call to even the richest Americans to join their fellow citizens in challenging the obscene wealth gap that characterizes America today. He hammers all the curve balls thrown to justify inequality, writes eloquently but humbly of his experiences, and lays out a winning lineup of ways to bring Americans across class lines together for economic justice.

John de Graaf, coauthor of Affluenza and Whats the Economy for, Anyway?

Other Books by Chuck Collins

99 to 1:
How Wealth Inequality Is Wrecking
the World and What We Should Do About It

Wealth and Our Commonwealth:
Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes
(with Bill Gates Sr.)

Moral Measure of the Economy
(with Mary Wright)

Economic Apartheid in America:
A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity
(with Felice Yeskel)

Robin Hood Was Right:
A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change
(with Pam Rogers and Joan Garner)

Copyright 2016 by Chuck Collins.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Editor: Joni Praded

Project Manager: Angela Boyle

Copy Editor: Deborah Heimann

Proofreader: Laura Jorstad

Indexer: Peggy Holloway

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing September, 2016.

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Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative ( www.greenpressinitiative.org ), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Born on Third Base was printed on paper supplied by Thomson-Shore that contains 100% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data