Derek Bullen’s new book is titled In Defence of Wealth: A Modest Rebuttal to the Charge the Rich are Bad for Society。 Like any solid piece of nonfiction， the title is something of a one sentence encapsulation of the topicality covered from cover to cover。 In the case of Mr。 Bullen’s new work， the title is refreshingly blunt， to-the-point， and concise。 Like a position paper or officiated doctrine， the read is split into six chapters focusing on distinctive aspects of Bullen’s economic argument。 I Derek Bullen’s new book is titled In Defence of Wealth: A Modest Rebuttal to the Charge the Rich are Bad for Society。 Like any solid piece of nonfiction， the title is something of a one sentence encapsulation of the topicality covered from cover to cover。 In the case of Mr。 Bullen’s new work， the title is refreshingly blunt， to-the-point， and concise。 Like a position paper or officiated doctrine， the read is split into six chapters focusing on distinctive aspects of Bullen’s economic argument。 It’s impressive how he is able to rebut a generalized position that has taken the current sociopolitical climate by storm， and responsibly does so in a manner complete with fully fleshed arguments， distinct objectivity， statistically backed facts and scenarios to bolster each and every articulation， and a concise word choice that never alienates the reader by being overtly verbose， nor oversimplified to a fault。 “Every time someone decries a company for making money， they are totally oblivious to the casualties who tried and failed， or succeeded but could not hang on。 Google is making tons of dough， yes。 But what about Yahoo or AltaVista？ Facebook is being raked over the coals for being too successful， but who remembers Myspace， Nextopia， or AOL？” Bullen writes。 “Before Netflix took over the world there was 。。。 Blockbuster。 Amazon is thriving， but what about eToys。com， Global Crossing， HomeGrocer。 com？ They were touted as world-beaters too。 Microsoft succeeded but somewhere in the weeds are Netscape， Borland， Lotus Software， and WordPerfect…I can tell you from experience that not one of the politicians or pundits who argues about how highly paid successful CEOs are—how unfair it is and how they never pay their fair share—ever dropped by with some reassuring words or sage advice when a CEO was sweating deep into the night over how to come up with payroll or when a bank suddenly cut off a line of credit。”By detailing his own experience climbing up the corporate and financial ladders from humble beginnings in Canada， Mr。 Bullen adds visceral heft to his unapologetic tonality。 It’s nice to see someone who embraces their success， but does so in a manner that is wholly sound in integrity on a factual， worldly， and three-dimensional level。 It skewers cheap arguments both for and against what Bullen advocates for， and makes you wish as a reader there were more people like Bullen who could just shoot straight。 There’s the feeling we could actually get somewhere， and be educated on the issues。 In the spirit of this， Bullen also highlights the importance of giving back when reaching a position of continued， fluid success。 But it isn’t solely a responsibility limited to people in his particular， socioeconomic position。 “Philanthropy is everyone’s responsibility，” he states。 “…Everyone can donate something。 Are we all in this together or not？ Frankly， I commend the wealthy philanthropists for increasingly donating part of their fortune to charities; we need more of that， not less。 I applaud companies that encourage employees to engage with local charities as part of their corporate commitment。 We need more of that。” 。。。more