While Bogle clearly blames financial magicians for making your money disappear, he also uses the book as another attempt to get investors to see the wizards for what they are. As in past books, Bogle again makes his pitch for index funds, due to the fact that they beat the vast majority of "professional" stock pickers while offering lower costs and guaranteeing that the majority of the return will end up in your pocket. If less money was out there chasing returns that simply can't be sustained, we'd have fewer finance companies creating complicated instruments that guarantee nothing more than their houses in the Hamptons.
Some will inevitably see Bogle's words as self-serving. After all, he made his money in the very industry he chides, and he points to his own creation (the index fund) as a large part of the answer to the problem. However, the accusations will ring hollow. While Bogle has made plenty, the numbers back him up on index funds, and his own earnings have never reached the heights of today's hedge fund managers. (Not to mention the fact that he gives a huge percentage of those earnings away.)
Enough is surely not Bogle's swan song (he sounds too energetic for that), but it does feel like a final, desperate attempt to change the ways of his prodigal sons before it's too late. Will anyone be reading?
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