Wealth breeds wealth. Power births more power. If you're not bothered by those statements, this book will bother you. Because it exposes how these dangerous cycles are hardening into a new, modern incarnation of feudalism right before our eyes across the Western world and rising superpowers.

Confused? Basically, we're heading towards a world with a huge gap between the ultra-wealthy elite at the top and everyone else. A world where it's really hard to move up the social ladder or achieve financial success if you're not born into money and privilege. Which is typical of feudalism from medieval times, but just a modern-day version of it. Or as it is formally called, neo-feudalism. Whether you lean conservative or progressive, chances are you don't want a society where a tiny number of people hoard massive amounts of wealth and power. 

Feudalism 2.0 sounds like a terrible sequel, don't you think? And neo-feudalism is playing out on the ground already; in superpowers like the U.S., U.K., Australia, China, and India. And in that sense, this book is sounding the alarm to quit sleepwalking into a world that pulls the rug out from under democracy's core promises - being masters of our own destiny, having a legitimate shot at climbing the economic ladder, and not being perpetually outranked by the privileged few.

So brace yourself, this book is about to show you where this road leads if we don't pump the brakes - and it might just spark ideas for changing course.

In movies, European feudalism is shown through fat nobles with whips and all, lording over obedient serfs. We like to think that nightmare ended when democracy and capitalism unchained the masses from such rigid class systems. But this feudalism is making a 21st century comeback. No, we won't be seeing knights on horseback. Neo-feudalism comes wrapped in a glossy veneer of high-tech and progressive buzzwords. Sustainability! Equality! Liberalism!! But strip away that shiny exterior, and you'll find the same rotten core - an emergent aristocracy concentrating obscene wealth while the doors to upward mobility slam shut on everyone else.The red flags are everywhere if you just lean in and look. Middle classes are being hollowed out as the super-rich eat up more and more of the gains. Entire generations are losing faith that they'll ever be better off than their parents. The share of global wealth held by the top 0.1% has shot up from 7% in 1978 to a whopping 22% by 2012. Just 100 billionaires now own roughly as much as the bottom half of the world's population. Combined! And then there are things like universal basic income proposals, for instance. Billionaires are SO in support of it. Know why? Because it is just like the medieval church's "proletarian alms bag." Giving the masses just enough to not be destitute. Or rebel.And as wealth concentrates, so does power and privilege - the literal symbol of a feudal society. Enter a new aristocratic class, or oligarchy, ruling the society! These are your tech billionaires and corporate moguls, living it up in their silicon castles. They have their own self-serving support system. Not unlike the old clergy. Except today's clergy is replaced by clerisy - smarty elites like media figures, academicians, Silicon Valley prophets, and opinion leaders cheering them on and providing the intellectual framework defending the new hierarchy. Oh, and religious leaders? You'll find them a part of this group.  Meanwhile, the property-less working class become the yeomanry of old feudalism. Small business owners, skilled workers, and the likes. They're clinging to the middle class dream, but it's getting slipperier by the day. We also have the growing servant class with little assets or mobility. They're bouncing from gig to gig, paycheck to paycheck, with about as much security as a medieval peasant during plague season. That’d be the serfs from old feudalism.Corporations like Facebook and Google play a...

In Game of Thrones, we have the Lannisters and the Starks who pretty much run the show, right? Well, in our real world, we've got our own modern-day equivalents – the tech oligarchs! These are the kings and queens of the digital realm.Y’know, hotshots like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, them. These aren't some tech geeks tinkering away in their garages, although some of them did start that way. Nope, they’re THE ultra-wealthy elite who have a filthy amount of power and influence. They've essentially created their own feudal kingdoms. Remember when we thought the internet would democratize information? Well, plot twist – it's become a feudal kingdom ruled by tech giants! Again, take Amazon. They've gone from selling books online to practically owning the entire book industry! They're the biggest bookstore in the US now, deciding which stories get to grace your shelves. And music? YouTube's the new sheriff in town, calling the shots while artists struggle to make ends meet. Netflix, backed by the Silicon Valley moneybags, is now worth more than any traditional film studio. This isn't just change, it's a full-blown coup d'état. The IT revolution promised freedom, but it's delivering control on a silver platter to a select few. It used to be that innovations went hand-in-hand with improving life for the masses. But somewhere along the way, things took a dark turn. Today's technological revolution has left social mobility on the decline, while a tiny faction down in the Silicon Valley keeps vacuuming everything up. Look around, dear! Companies like Google and Facebook have a virtual monopoly on online advertising and data collection. They know more about you than your own mother does! Amazon dominates e-commerce and is making its way into pretty much every industry imaginable. They can simply buy any upstart threatening their turf. And let's not forget their cozy relationship with government that keeps antitrust regulators toothless. Like, all the laws aimed at preventing companies from becoming too monopolistic are gone with the wind. Regulators give the techies a free pass to kill any rivals that dare challenge them. And let's not even get started on their control over the flow of information and media content! What's even more mind-boggling is just how insanely wealthy and powerful this tiny group of people has become. Ever seen their individual net worths? It’s in billions, and their companies are worth more than...

So who even are these "clerisy" folks? Basically, they're the brain workforce that keeps society ticking - the teachers, lawyers, consultants, government officials, and other professions that deal more with ideas and administration than physical labor. Historically, they've played an important role in providing services and shaping culture. But these days, their influence is going into overdrive.Now, here's where it gets dirty - the clerisy aren't just doing their jobs anymore. Nope, they've appointed themselves the moral and intellectual gatekeepers of society. Hollywood elites preach their values through entertainment. And journalists decide what ideas get aired in the media. Everywhere you turn, there's this class telling the rest of us how to think and live. And then there’s clerisy in how elite colleges like Harvard and Stanford are becoming too exclusive. They favor students from super wealthy families over those from middle or lower-income backgrounds. That's a huge problem because these elite university degrees have become almost essential for getting the highest-paying jobs nowadays. But it's not just about who gets in. There are also issues with what students are actually learning at many universities. Instead of encouraging open-minded thinking and exposure to different viewpoints, a lot of universities enforce a single way of thinking. Zero real diversity of thoughts and opinions are allowed. Some even make professors sign pledges saying they'll stick to the university's approved positions on different issues. And what make it even worse is that universities have become too focused on just giving students a credential for a career, rather than providing real education that equips them with critical thinking abilities. Their curricula has no place for influential works by the Founding Fathers, and others. All this contributing to younger generations being more accepting of free speech restrictions and detached from the philosophical roots of liberal democratic values. It's leading to a "mass amnesia" of the very foundations that shaped modern society.And it’s getting worse. With AI and surveillance, the clerisy now has tools to potentially monitor and "re-educate" those who stray from approved viewpoints. This level of thought-policing was just a dream for oppressive regimes in the past. Not saying all teachers or civil servants are power-hungry authoritarians looking to turn us into obedient drones. But when you combine a class's inflated self-importance with the means to apply thought-dictatorship, it becomes a recipe for totalitarian disaster!There’s an old Latin saying: "who watches the watchers themselves?"...

Alright then, let's talk about what's really going on with the middle class and working folk these days.It seems like yeomanry - your average independent small landowning family - used to mean a decent life and some chances for a better tomorrow. But now? Those dreams of upward mobility and building real wealth are fading. No matter how hard you hustle, you just can't get ahead!The statistics are grim. Once upon a time, around 90% of kids went on to out-earn their parents. It’s plummeted to 50% now. Ouch! Home ownership rates went from 60% down to 45%! There's even talk some Western nations could face a "lost generation" who end up lifetime renters without assets. Seems like inheriting Mum and Dad’s place might be the new normal!What else’s changing? Well it seems the folks in power prioritize things like environmental rules that drive up costs, but they aren't the ones struggling to pay twice as much for gas. Migrant flows have swelled too, and while diversity is great, many feel leaders ignored their worries about change happening too fast. Even in places with a long history of welcoming immigrants, folks are saying "whoa, slow down!" when it comes to open borders these days. Anywheres, which is Kotkin’s term for the cosmopolitan elites, thinkers, leaders, and professionals, tend to have a post-national, global perspective. They embrace diversity. Meanwhile, the somewheres feel sidelined as leaders ignore how they define themselves in a more localized way. Discontent everywhere!But hey, at least the working class is not that hit, right? Oh wait, they’re even WORSE! Them’s the new serfs we're talking about!From rural Chinese migrants denied basic rights despite driving the economic engine, to the rapidly vanishing industrial jobs that paid a living wage - the working class has been hung out to dry. Unions that once protected labor interests have crumbled. Jobs with any kind of security are as rare as affordable housing these days. Instead, we have the rise of the "precariat" - a growing mass of temporaries, contractors and gig workers with zero protections and limited bargaining power in this digital economy. No benefits, no insurance, no future - just a life of lurching paycheck to paycheck while trying not to get swallowed by the latest crisis.In many ways, the situation is just like the "peasant rebellions" from medieval Europe.  The common man feels the social contract has broken down....

So! The thing is our cities aren't doing right by regular folks these days. Kotkin paints a bleak picture of neighborhoods divided between fancy living downtown and crumbling ruins just blocks away. Doesn't look like urban life is much of an "engine of upward mobility" anymore. With good jobs gone and housing costs through the roof, who can really get ahead in fancy places these days besides the rich? And it's not just cities - opportunities shrinking in small towns and rural areas, too. Not exactly the "American dream" if you ask us! Then, there's the thing with "smart cities" the tech overlords have planned for us. Constant monitoring and data mining so they can turn us all into good little consumers? No, thanks!Now, where does all this leave the rest of us? The regular people just trying to chase the American dream, what do we do? Do we stand up to the totalitarian urban future? You bet, we will! It's time to rekindle that rebellious spirit that toppled one feudal order and can damn well upend the next. Now sure, outright revolution might be a tad extreme these days. But a certain...let's call it a renaissance of values? Yeah, that could be just what the doctor ordered! See, our civilization thrived because people believed in core ideals like the whole life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness stuff. But nowadays? Those principles are getting trampled on left and right, as we explained. And if we lose faith in what makes us, well, us, then Houston, we have a big problem! So here's step 1: Rediscover and recommit to the core values that made Western civilization great! Individual liberty, democratic self-governance, and human rights. We need to instill pride in our cultural heritage while remaining open to positive outside influences. At the same time, we must adapt these ideals to address modern challenges like inequality, environmental issues, and concentrated power. Something that truly expands opportunities for all. And it should start from the grassroots – in our communities, schools, and civic life – to cultivate a new generation of engaged citizens upholding and updating the liberal democratic tradition.We gotta start taking a stand for property rights and economic opportunity, too. It means protecting our families and communities from those who want us living in the ‘basement’, as Kotkin puts it. And it means making our voices heard when they try...

In the end, as R.H. Tawney wrote, "Happy the nation whose people have not forgotten how to rebel." Whether modern society can muster the resolve to reassert itself as engaged citizens upholding core democratic values and ideals will determine what kind of world, feudal or free, our children inherit. The choice is ours.