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it's not wealth, it's advantage. once you get the job handed down to you, you still have to do the work to get the money, unlike wealth. not saying jobs should

it's not wealth, it's advantage. once you get the job handed down to you, you still have to do the work to get the money, unlike wealth. not saying jobs should be doled out that way, but it's quite different to get a chance at future income vs. having it mounded in your lap without lifting a finger.

zozbot234 7y ago
That's just as true with wealth. Sure, you could spend your wealth down, but that's like eating your seed corn; very few actually do that, because it means you're not wealthy anymore afterwards.
- skybrian 7y ago
  Uh, the money grows by itself if properly invested. Investing in an index fund hardly counts as working.
klipt 7y ago
> it's not wealth, it's advantage. once you get the job handed down to you, you still have to do the work to get the money, unlike wealth. So like a taxi medallion. Which when sold on a free market had (before Uber, in NYC) a market value on the order of a million dollars. That's a pretty huge advantage to pass down.
- icebraining 7y ago
  No, a taxi medallion could be rented out to drivers. For example, for a period Michael Cohen owned 34 NYC medallions.
  - klipt 7y ago
    Right, but the reason it has value is that it's tied to a high paying job where the supply of labor is limited. (Which is why, as soon as Uber flooded the labor side, the value of taxi medallions plummeted.) If longshoremen were allowed to buy and sell their union memberships (say in the form of "union member medallions") they'd probably have similar value to taxi medallions.
    - erik_seaberg 7y ago
      You can’t make a loyal mafia out of just anyone who shows up.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
I think you're vastly over-estimating how much you actually need to do your job to stick around in a workplace heavy on connections/nepotism. I have stories from state government that are almost beyond belief. Elected officials using backwater departments as a place to give jobs to people they owe favors is a recurring scandal in my state. Said people get a six figure salary just for showing up, sometimes not even that, somebody noticing lots of people paid for not showing up is how the "scandal" often starts. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the people who got their jobs by knowing someone do their jobs but a disturbing number don't.
- drcross 7y ago
  This is why we should be thankful for pure capitalism. Inefficient companies should go bust and overtaken by those who are more efficient.
goldcd 7y ago
Advantage can be pretty synonymous with wealth though. Could be your dad happens to run the "People's Industry X" or simply you inherited a role that "X many people have to hold for the production to be not shut down".

zozbot234 7y ago

That's just as true with wealth. Sure, you could spend your wealth down, but that's like eating your seed corn; very few actually do that, because it means you're not wealthy anymore afterwards.

skybrian 7y ago
Uh, the money grows by itself if properly invested. Investing in an index fund hardly counts as working.

klipt 7y ago

> it's not wealth, it's advantage. once you get the job handed down to you, you still have to do the work to get the money, unlike wealth. So like a taxi medallion. Which when sold on a free market had (before Uber, in NYC) a market value on the order of a million dollars. That's a pretty huge advantage to pass down.

icebraining 7y ago
No, a taxi medallion could be rented out to drivers. For example, for a period Michael Cohen owned 34 NYC medallions.
- klipt 7y ago
  Right, but the reason it has value is that it's tied to a high paying job where the supply of labor is limited. (Which is why, as soon as Uber flooded the labor side, the value of taxi medallions plummeted.) If longshoremen were allowed to buy and sell their union memberships (say in the form of "union member medallions") they'd probably have similar value to taxi medallions.
  - erik_seaberg 7y ago
    You can’t make a loyal mafia out of just anyone who shows up.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

I think you're vastly over-estimating how much you actually need to do your job to stick around in a workplace heavy on connections/nepotism. I have stories from state government that are almost beyond belief. Elected officials using backwater departments as a place to give jobs to people they owe favors is a recurring scandal in my state. Said people get a six figure salary just for showing up, sometimes not even that, somebody noticing lots of people paid for not showing up is how the "scandal" often starts. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the people who got their jobs by knowing someone do their jobs but a disturbing number don't.

drcross 7y ago
This is why we should be thankful for pure capitalism. Inefficient companies should go bust and overtaken by those who are more efficient.

goldcd 7y ago

Advantage can be pretty synonymous with wealth though. Could be your dad happens to run the "People's Industry X" or simply you inherited a role that "X many people have to hold for the production to be not shut down".