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[opinion to follow, my own] Even in 2020, while the rich get richer (literally being subsidized by COVID "relief" bills) and the poor are looking to avoid bein
by dvdhnt 6y ago
[opinion to follow, my own]
Even in 2020, while the rich get richer (literally being subsidized by COVID "relief" bills) and the poor are looking to avoid being evicted, the flood of pro-corporate defenders is never ending. It is a true downside to having such a large, albeit fragile middle-class.
The fundamental premise of this story is flawed given how most board/c-suite positions are attained and how almost all wealth is acquired e.g. inherited.
And HN is not immune to the rallying cry of defending billionaires and our perverted version of a "free-market" (lol).
Anyway, I'm mad, too, internet stranger. I'm mad that we spend more time admiring CEOs than we do fixing real problems.
Cheers and I hope you read this before the downvotes cause it to fade.
- andreilys 6y agoThe fundamental premise of this story is flawed given how most board/c-suite positions are attained and how almost all wealth is acquired e.g. inherited. Citation needed. From a simple google search it seems 55.8% of Billionaires are "self-made" [1]. Sure some of them started off with silver spoons (i.e. Gates) but they did not inherit the billions they made from starting companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla, etc. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/wealthx-billionaire-census-majority-of-worlds-billionaires-self-made.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/wealthx-billionaire-census-m...
- orange_tee 6y agoWealth accumulation is exponential so starting with "mere millions" is deceptive. The first million is the hardest.
- Merman_Mike 6y agoYou're comparing "almost all wealth" (from GP) to the number of people with self-made wealth, which doesn't make sense. > Taken together, much of the best available evidence suggests that the median dollar of wealth in the United States has been inherited by someone in the richest 5 percent of families. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/06/people-like-estate-tax-whole-lot-more-when-they-learn-how-wealth-is-distributed/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/06/people-l...
- smabie 6y agoMost wealth is not inherited, unless you're using some weird definition that you made up.
- Merman_Mike 6y ago> Taken together, much of the best available evidence suggests that the median dollar of wealth in the United States has been inherited by someone in the richest 5 percent of families. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/06/people-like-estate-tax-whole-lot-more-when-they-learn-how-wealth-is-distributed/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/06/people-l...
- whimsicalism 6y agoAnd estate taxes just keep getting lower. Nevermind that you don't have to pay capital gains on inherited equity. Many people aren't aware of just how bad wealth inequality has gotten in the last 25 years.
- Merman_Mike 6y ago> Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.