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"The first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation blows it." Digression: Interestingly, this adage about hereditary ru
by s_q_b 10y ago
"The first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation blows it."
Digression:
Interestingly, this adage about hereditary rule is one of the loan phrases brought back after the First and Second Anglo-Afghan wars. Primarily these were from the language of the ruling Pathans (as we would call them Pashtuns.)
The original Pashto, more literally translated:
"The grandfather was born in a tent. He remembers living in a tent. He will lead the people well.
The father was born in a tent. He remembers both living in a tent, and living in a palace. He will lead the people well.
The son was born in a palace. He has never lived in a tent. He will not lead the people at all."
There are several of these Afghan sayings, from both the Pashtunwali and folk-wisdom, that the British officers brought back home. The most well-known of these most don't realize is an Pashto loan phrase at all:
"Revenge is a dish best served cold."
- nickonline 10y agoIt's really not some crazy idea. I'm sure you've heard "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel,"
- s_q_b 10y agoYeah, it's so common as to have become a television trope. It's not difficult to see how a life of luxury can cause one to divorce the notion of wealth (or power) from the hard work necessary to obtain it.
- nxzero 10y agoFormal name for the pattern is regression toward the mean: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean
- antisthenes 10y agoThat reads more like a joke about Land Rover maintenance costs.
- gohrt 10y agothat quote is just about oil running out.
- gozur88 10y agoThe source of the quote, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, died in 1990. By my reckoning the last Land Rover generation will have been born by now.
- ef4 10y agoIt's much more universal than that. Variations on this proverb occur in many, many cultures and languages: there’s nobbut three generations atween a clog and clog dalle stalle alle stelle alle stalle quien no lo tiene, lo hance; y quien lo tiene, lo deshance 富 不过三代 (wealth does not pass three generations)
- spullara 10y agoProbably wishful thinking. Here is an analysis done that shows wealth lasting 7 centuries http://www.vox.com/2016/5/18/11691818/barone-mocetti-florence http://www.vox.com/2016/5/18/11691818/barone-mocetti-florenc...
- Retric 10y agoAlternatively, 7 centuries without new lasting wealth / dynasty's. Clearly, some groups understand how to maintain wealth, but for most newly wealthy it's easy come easy go.
- ef4 10y agoThat doesn't necessarily contradict the proverb. It's saying that somebody who starts out poor and then rises is still likely to have descendants who are poor. That is actually a statement that social classes are sticky.
- Hermel 10y agoNo, the study shows that similar families are rich today as back then. It does not say what happened in between. It could well be that these families lost and regain their fortunes multiple times.
- boxy310 10y agoStrictly speaking, the aphorism relates to the nouveau-riche. Old money may have other aspects of social entrenchment to wealth, which is only disrupted by major social disasters like World War I or the Black Plague.
- 10y ago
- ChuckMcM 10y agoAnd this precisely defines the reason for the existence of institutions, which can continue the execution of a set of values longer than a single lifespan of a human. A well designed institution can continue to amass wealth and power throughout its multi-generational existence.
- beamatronic 10y agoI'm fascinated by this topic. How do the legacy-type families do it? I'm talking your Kennedies, your Bushes, etc. Preserving wealth and power for generations?
- mrcsparker 10y agoEducation
- ChuckMcM 10y agoThe same way "legacy type" universities, or "legacy type" companies do it. An institution is a set of processes, governing rules, and feedback mechanisms which serve to reinforce the core mission. Individual (fallible) control is ceded to the rules and processes in exchange for ensured existence. Harvard University is a good example of a durable institution, look at how its bylaws and processes protect its mission, but more importantly how its feedback mechanisms try to identify and purge potential threats to the institution. In a lot of ways it is similar to programming, only with people who can be modeled as unreliable computers which don't always follow their instructions. So you need interconnected missions of individuals to support the institution's mission. At some point if you have enough individuals who are off script the institution will fail, but with clever process and incentive one can minimize that risk.
- pstuart 10y agoW.R. Hearst set up a family trust with limited control by family members.
- billmalarky 10y agoAn excerpt from http://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/08/how-the-1-billion-kennedy-family-fortune-defies-death-and-taxes-3/#126ba756238d http://www.forbes.com/sites/carlodonnell/2014/07/08/how-the-... "Joseph P. Kennedy’s choice to place his fortune in trusts is possibly the single most critical reason why the family wealth is still around today. The most obvious benefit was to protect the fortune from the prying fingers of ne’er-do-well heirs, said Laurence Leamer, who wrote three Kennedy biographies. Trusts often prevent beneficiaries from tapping more than 10 percent of principal, said Rick Kruse, principal at Kruse and Crawford, which offers estate management advice. The trusts also protect the family assets from another set of prying fingers: Uncle Sam’s. By holding assets in so called “dynasty trusts,” which are passed from heir to heir for decades, if not longer, the Kennedy family fortune is largely insulated from the estate tax, Kruse said. Handled correctly, a dynasty trust could potentially maintain an un-taxable fortune indefinitely. The oldest Kennedy trust on record dates back to 1936."