LogFAQs > #942290677

The other issue I want to address -- which I saw brought up several times but don't feel like digging around for the relevant portion of a post -- is the stupidity and misunderstandings regarding "hoarding," inherited wealth, etc.

There's a generally well-known concept called the Third-Generation Rule. Basically 7/10 wealthy families lose their fortune by the second generation, and that number jumps to 90% by the third generation. (And historically this has been the case as well; to try to prevent *some* of the issues, you began to see laws restricting inheritance to the eldest son to avoid the fragmentation of wealth, but even that didn't solve things completely.)

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/generational-wealth%3A-why-do-70-of-families-lose-their-wealth-in-the-2nd-generation-2018-10

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-90-of-rich-people-squander-their-fortunes-2017-04-23

https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/why-wealth-barely-lasts-for-3-generations-d409e5f28106

The idea that somebody just accumulates all this money and it doesn't go anywhere is generally absolute bullshit.

Not to mention that, while a greater share of the economy might be in the hands of the few, the economy as a whole has constantly been growing. Then there's the fact that wealth isn't the same thing as cash (which I already discussed to some extent) and cash isn't the same thing as resources. The fact that somebody else is rich doesn't necessarily (on its own merits) impact the day-to-day lives of others. And when workers collectively make more, oftentimes everything winds up just getting more expensive.

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There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.