Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (52 page)

“There are skeletons”
Chris Hogg, “What Brought Down China’s Huang Guangyu?,” BBC, May 18, 2010.

China’s billionaires understand that notoriety is dangerous
Russell Flannery, “China Leads the World in Billionaire Flame-Outs,”
Forbes
, March 9, 2012.

the party’s official policy of pursuing “harmonious growth”
Liu Jie, Kong Xiaohan, and Tian Ye, “Premier Wen Targets Causes of Instability, Stresses Fair Treatment of Disadvantaged Groups,” Xinhua, February 27, 2011.

“original sins”
Philip P. Pan,
Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China
(Simon & Schuster, 2008), p. 156.

over the past three decades, China’s average per capita income
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook database, April 2012; National Bureau of Statistics of China; Jeremy Page, Bob Davis, James T. Areddy, “China Turns Predominantly Urban,”
Wall Street Journal
, January 18, 2012; “Income of Urban and Rural Residents in 2011,” January 30, 2012.

“What moves this structure is not a market economy”
Carl E. Walter and Fraser J. T. Howie,
Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China’s Extraordinary Rise
(John Wiley & Sons, 2011), pp. 22–23.

Unlike their Russian comrades, China’s red oligarchs
Laurie Burkitt, “Landed Ladies Top List of China’s Richest Women,”
China Real-Time Report
blog,
Wall Street Journal
, September 29, 2011.

“What would the chairman of China’s largest bank do”
Walter and Howie,
Red Capitalism,
p. 187.

The subtle hand of the Chinese government
Shu-Ching Jean Chen, “China’s Power Queen,”
Forbes
, January 3, 2008; “Li Xiaopeng Appointed Vice Governor of Shanxi Province,”
People’s Daily Online
, June 12, 2008.

Another sign of the political nature of wealth in China
Audra Ang, “Chinese Tycoon Gets 18 Years in Fraud Case,” Associated Press, July 15, 2003.

“If they wanted to, China’s authorities could probably find”
“Face Value: Scandal in Shanghai,”
The Economist
, August 14, 2003.

“If only a few people are rich, then we’ll slide into capitalism”
“China’s Bo Signals Wealth Gap Breached Unrest Trigger Point,” Bloomberg News, March 9, 2012.

But at the same time, Bo was a princeling
Jeremy Page, “Children of the Revolution,”
Wall Street Journal
, November 26, 2011.

(Guagua denies driving the Ferrari)
Andrew Jacobs and Edward Wong, “Disgraced Chinese Official’s Son Tries to Defuse Sports Car Scandal,”
New York Times
, April 25, 2012.

Guagua was educated at Harrow
Jeremy Page, Brian Spegele, and Steve Eder, “‘Jackie Kennedy of China’ at Center of Political Drama,”
Wall Street Journal
, April 9, 2012.

Since Bo Xilai’s fall from grace
“Bo Xilai Clan Links Included Citigroup Hiring of Elder Son,” Bloomberg News, April 23, 2012.

Bo was one of China’s rising leaders
Jamil Anderlini, “Bo Xilai’s Wife Arrested in Murder Probe,”
Financial Times
, April 10, 2012.

“The emphasis once again is shifting much more”
CF interview with Stephen Roach, April 10, 2012.

“Our banks earn profit too easily”
Dinny McMahon, Lingling Wei, and Andrew Galbraith, “Chinese Premier Blasts Banks,”
Wall Street Journal,
April 4, 2012.

“this would be devastating for both our city and nation”
Charles E. Schumer and Michael R. Bloomberg, “To Save New York from London,”
Wall Street Journal
, November 1, 2006.

“When asked to compare New York and London”
“Sustaining New York’s and the US’ Global Financial Services Leadership,” McKinsey report, January 22, 2007.

The arguments in the report are so wrong that it is easy to mock
Aaron Lucchetti, “Moving the Market: Why Spitzer Is Backing Study That Endorses Less Regulation—Restrictive Climate Said to Draw Business Away from New York,”
Wall Street Journal
, January 23, 2007.

Two days before Bloomberg and Schumer took to the op-ed pages
R. Glenn Hubbard and John L. Thornton, “Is the U.S. Losing Ground?”
Wall Street Journal
, October 30, 2006.

“‘Our society seems to have an increased tendency’”
Remarks by Secretary Henry Paulson to the Economic Club of New York, as released by the Department of the Treasury, November 20, 2006.

A final U.S. contribution from the department of irony
John A. Thain, “New York Faces Challenges to Its Market Dominance,” letter to the editor,
Wall Street Journal
, November 25, 2006.

“Gordon Brown patrolled the conference corridors”
Howard Davies, “Balls Must Save Us from U.S. Regulatory Creep,”
The Independent
, January, 27, 2007.

he resigned as director of the LSE
“LSE Director Sir Howard Davies Resigns over Libya Links,” BBC, March 4, 2011.

“I totally understand why Dick Fuld couldn’t do it”
CF interview with John Thain, September 16, 2008.

“The perspective of government”
All attributed quotes from this section originally appeared in Chrystia Freeland, “What Toronto Can Teach New York and London,”
Financial Times,
January 29, 2010.

“The highest earnings by occupation”
Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, “Transitions: Career and Family Life Cycles of the Educational Elite,”
American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2008
, 98:2, 363–69.

One of the most comprehensive analyses
Bakija, Cole, and Heim, “Jobs and Income Growth,” p. 55, table 7; see also the explanation on p. 24.

The numbers in the UK, where the ascendancy of finance
Brian Bell and John Van Reenen, “Bankers’ Pay and Extreme Wage Inequality in the UK,” CEP Special Report, April 2010.

“From 1909 to 1933 the financial sector”
Thomas Philippon and Ariell Reshef, “Wages and Human Capital in the U.S. Financial Industry: 1909–2006,” NBER Working Paper, March 2011.

“In the financial industry, the United States”
CF interview with Christopher Meyer, 14644, February 21, 2012.

laws increasing regulation of the finance and real estate sectors
Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra, and Thierry Tressel, “A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis,” IMF Working Paper 09/287, December 2009.

“Well, of course, I wrote”
Freeland,
Sale of the Century
, p. 176.

Washington had occupied Wall Street
Sarah Palin, “How Congress Occupied Wall Street,”
Wall Street Journal
, November 18, 2011.

One study of the SEC
“Revolving Regulators: SEC Faces Ethics Challenges with Revolving Door,” Project on Government Oversight report, May 13, 2011.

It is easy to understand the appeal of switching
Philippon and Reshef, “Wages and Human Capital,” p. 21.

CHAPTER 6: PLUTOCRATS AND THE REST OF US

“If you really wanted to examine”
Richard D. Lyons, “Fears of H.E.W. Cuts Spur Protests at Inflation Parley,”
New York Times
, September 19, 1974.

“He was remembering now”
Robert Harris,
The Fear Index
(Knopf, 2012).

“A stranger to human nature”
Adam Smith,
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
(Cambridge University Press), 2004, p. 63.

If you ever have to work at a call center
Unless otherwise specified, all quotes and descriptions from this section are drawn from the author’s August 2010 visit to Zappos headquarters.

“free from boring work environments”
This quote appears on the jobs section of Zappos .com.

“the palace of the millionaire”
Carnegie, “Wealth.”

“the marginal return for extra dollars does drop off”
Jeff Guo and Rob McQueen, “Gates Asks Students to Tackle the World’s Problems,”
The Tech
, April 23, 2010.

“you can drive your Rolls-Royce around”
CF interview with Eric Schmidt, February 23, 2011.

“If a man is not an oligarch”
Chrystia Freeland,
Sale of the Century: Russia’s Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism
(Crown Business, 2000), p. 320.

“treated business exclusively”
“Prison Exchange: Mikhail Khodorkovsky Looks Back on His Choices,”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
, September 21, 2009.

“That this talent for organization”
Carnegie, “Wealth.”

“We ended up making twenty-four times our money”
Bloomberg TV interview with Steve Schwarzman, November 30, 2011.

“We live in a bubble”
Brad Stone. “It’s Always Sunny in Silicon Valley,”
Bloomberg Businessweek
, December 26, 2011.

“I recently talked to an IT engineer”
Matt Rosoff, “Eric Schmidt: We Don’t Talk about Occupy Wall Street in the Valley Because We Don’t Have Those Problems,”
Business Insider,
December 23, 2011.