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let's say someone is born into extreme poverty, and through decades of hard work becomes wealthy enough to give his child a great education and a 1 million dll
by jayski 6y ago
let's say someone is born into extreme poverty, and through decades of hard work becomes wealthy enough to give his child a great education and a 1 million dll inheritance. is it not his right to use his money on his child?
then lets say this child turns this education and inheritance into 1 billion dollars worth of wealth. does this have no merit??
ive seen many people squander privileged upbringings, i think if you 10x what was given to you, you have some merit regardless of where you stared from.
- jahaja 6y agoI don't understand why people go to such great lengths to give current injustices the benefit of the doubt ad infinitum, even constructing ridiculously rare and hypothetical scenarios like that. The real outrage here is the millions and millions of people squandering their talents in some shite job due to lack of opportunity, not the handful of billionaires that started from nothing and whose children might now be taxed somewhat.
- jayski 6y agoI don't know man... I dont think its that rare for someone to climb out of poverty. Maybe I just see it this way because I did it myself (born in a 3rd world country, single mom, step father with bad addiction issues, barely graduated HS) Now that Im a father myself, Im of course trying to give my child the best opportunities, but also trying to raise him to be grateful and disciplined. So I'm not talking about the billionaires. Im talking about regular people who can now grant their children not private jets, but just a good private school. What would be fair in this scenario? How can we make things equal/just in this case? Also I dont think its rare or hypothetical at all, that rich kids never learn to work hard and squander their good fortune. -- EDIT, i completely agree its absurd and completely wrong that 1% of people have 50% of the wealth, that should not be that way.
- jahaja 6y agoI also have a working class background, but in Sweden. The last thing I would like to do is to pull up the ladder that enabled me and so many others a better chance to a secure and comfortable life. The inheritance tax was actually recently abolished here, but not due to some popular uproar but because right-wing parties got into power.
- legulere 6y ago> let's say someone is born into extreme poverty, and through decades of hard work becomes wealthy enough That seems more luck than hard work to me. Just read the paper. Even if that was possible. Do you want in a world where people with merit call the shots or a world in which people that cheated their way to wealth or simply inherited wealth call the shots? Money can be transferred, gained through stealing and luck which all does not require merit. It is not a good proxy for merit.