Pushing The Envelope [Hardcover]

When Joseph Sedulus, son of a Bill Gates figure, enters graduate school at Stanford University, his father introduces him to a dark corrupt underground society. Comprised of extremely wealthy investors called The Elite and professional hackers known as The Guys Upstairs , this secretive organization works in concert to control the world's financial and political destinies. This journal-formatted collection of ideas is a contemporary-fiction book that depicts a world in which a massive mega corporation called Maxion, often referred to as M$, gradually takes over the globe through a series of large business mergers. Joe's father, Dr. Sedulus, is the CEO of Maxion as well as richest man on earth. There are several blatant similarities between M$, the company in Pushing the Envelope, and Microsoft. This same mechanic is applied to other entities throughout the novel to give it a very realistic perception. For example, Wally World and Maxion join in the middle of the book to create Maxion Online, a massive distribution and telecommunications conglomerate. In a few short years, M$ releases several popular devices such as the WebTVo+, SmartScreen, and Model C#. Joe discusses how these technologies and globalization come together to redefine the world economy using a technique called Monopolistic Socialism. The repercussion of Maxion's success leads to a jealous Elite who eventually setup a coup to take down the Sedulus Empire.