The Rigged Game: How the 1% Built a System to Keep You Poor

What if everything you've been told about wealth and success is a lie designed to keep you poor while the ultra-rich get richer? Investigative journalist Michael Rodriguez exposes the shocking truth behind extreme wealth inequality in this groundbreaking analysis of how ten people now control more wealth than half of humanity combined. "The Rigged Game" reveals the hidden mechanisms of wealth concentration that have operated for centuries—from medieval feudal systems to modern financial oligarchy. Rodriguez traces how Dutch merchants, Industrial Age monopolists like Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, and today's tech billionaires all used the same systematic techniques to extract value from others' economic activities while rigging the rules in their favor. This isn't just another capitalism critique—it's a detailed blueprint showing exactly how the economic system was designed to concentrate power among the 1% while keeping everyone else trapped in financial struggle. Rodriguez combines historical analysis with insider knowledge of derivatives markets, banking manipulation, and political capture to demonstrate why traditional solutions fail. But he doesn't stop at exposing the problem: the book reveals proven alternatives already working worldwide, from worker cooperatives to public banking systems that prioritize people over profits. If you're ready to understand how the rigged game really works—and discover practical ways to change it—this book will transform how you see money, power, and your place in the economic system forever.