A thing I wish I could teach people is that the vast majority of very rich people are deeply stupid. They did not get where they are because of ingenuity or talent. They got there because of compound interest on hereditary wealth and being tax cheats.
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this is one of them
Making money is easy if you have none of the above.
Exhibit B: Eric Trump
Exhibit C: Donald Trump Jr.
All born wealthy and all dumb as shit.
Some combo of: "These people are your boss. They are your landlords. They are selling you in data form. They take out life insurance on you and are the beneficiary. They have no morals. Luigi was right"
you are NOT entitled to their money,
and you will NEVER have my vote to take it away.
Right?
What was it? You have to work about 400 years at median income (and no expenses) to get 1 billion in the bank? Something tremendously stupid like that.
Genuine “rags to riches” stories are insanely rare, since most people don’t get to a economic class higher than that of their parents, but rich people act as if they happen to everybody.
It has to be the result of money making you think you should have what you want all the time. Spouses do not work that way....so divorce.
Just imagine being a millionaire August, 1929
Not only were your stocks about to tank, but that would bring in an administration hostile to wealth as never before seen in US, followed by a world war that would shame you into patriotic tax paying for the next decade + half
Rich is not intelligent.
Rich is not morally superior.
Rich is not harder working.
Rich is not classy.
Rich is not tasteful.
A particular rich person might embody one or more of these qualities, but never assume them just because someone is rich.
Alright then, explain why most poor people don’t become rich even though they have to work WAY harder than most people just to survive.
Explain why most scholars and teachers aren’t super rich. Or why there exists college degrees which inarguably make you smarter in a certain topic, but are considered “useless” under capitalism.
Clearly you need more than just merit.
More often, it’s in spite of themselves
They are incredibly gullible, believe every confirmation bias they are fed, refuse to acknowledge when they’re wrong and always willingly sacrifice their progeny for whatever stupid ideology they currently adhere to.
How about prohibiting descendants of slave owners from running for office? It would actually hit both major parties.
"If you're so rich, why aren't you smart?"
Only a TRUE MORON would think that wealth = genius
If anything, amassed wealth is an indicator of Sociopathy and other Mental Illnesses
The exceptions to that rule are rare and should be celebrated.
The big X factor is simple luck. As economist Robert H. Frank showed, they are seldom the most talented but are almost always among the luckiest.
They are also capricious and tend to make things way worse by “using their gut” to make decisions.
They literally think that because they are rich, they are infallible.
- Honore de Balzac
[a response is unrequired, doubtlessly this anecdote is impenetrably nebulous]
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/12/666993130/zipcode-destiny-the-persistent-power-of-place-and-education
They didn't make good choices, they had good options
Vastly better opportunities were afforded to them than they were to us
Evolution loves diversity.