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> In part, this is because of what sort of people make up America's elite today: not the owners of family businesses but professionals with impressive education

> In part, this is because of what sort of people make up America's elite today: not the owners of family businesses but professionals with impressive educations. Family businesses are heritable; education, by contrast, is not. It seems that by 'rich' the article referred to professionals with high salary. I am not sure how much I will call rich someone that needs to work on a job to continue having an income. 'Prosperous', 'well off' sounds more accurate, but English is not my mother tongue. My point is that the rich, the ultra-wealthy, can pass assets and business to their descendants and can pay their children's way into exclusive institutions. I prefer a society were everybody have a minimum well being guaranteed and better off people just have some more luxuries.

ffggvv 5y ago
a lot of these professionals could be making 7 or 8 figures a year. they don’t “have” to work. they choose to. and there’s much more people in this elite strata than if you only count the traditional ultra wealthy
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  There are a total of 358k people in the US that earned $1M+ in 2020. Seems like a very small population to be talking about out of a country of 330M. There are probably only ~20k people earning $10M+. https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/ There is a vast difference between earning mid six figures and “could be earning 7 or 8 figures”. And there is a vast difference in lifestyle between those who can maintain their lifestyle by doing nothing and those who have to grind to maintain it.
darepublic 5y ago
> I prefer a society where everyone have min well being and better off people have some luxuries ^ people will still fight tooth and nail for the luxuries even if the basic floor of existence keeps rising. It's like that proverb of the dogs, it's not enough that we succeed, cats must fail. I assume it had to do with the competition of passing on your genes.
- theonlybutlet 5y ago
  Not really, that's cultural. In the recent past, status was also associated with professions that made a positive contribution toward society such as doctors. Nowadays you're a respected leader if you own a big ass yacht even if it's luck. The longer term trend was this material wealth but I blame that on inequality, which is rising now.
  - reeeee1234 5y ago
    >not really, that's cultural. Some things are cultural, however competition for mates and sexual selection is not one of them. I see this attitude as a lateral movement of the anti Darwinists from Protestantism to woke. People compete with each other in order to be more desirable to more desirable mates and to win their affection. This is foundational to evolution itself. Saying ”not really" to established science which undergirds all medicine and biology is an expression of fundamentalist extremism no one should let pass. Also, society confers far more esteem to cancer researchers than Hollywood moguls exactly because they make a positive contribution. Sorry. It's wrong to let that kind of ignorance pass unrebutted.
refurb 5y ago
Someone earning more than ~$400k per year puts them in the top 1% of income earners. They earn more than 99% of the population. And you’re saying these people aren’t rich?
- senkora 5y ago
  A lot of them aren’t “culturally rich”. They grew up upper middle class (so a stable home life and a solid education with family support but no expectation of inherited wealth) and strongly value education and work ethic. I would actually argue that this is a good thing. A society benefits when its most capable members continue to work hard.
  - refurb 5y ago
    Not sure what “culturally rich” means, but if the problem is income I equality, the top 1% need to pay more taxes.
    - senkora 5y ago
      You could also use the term “leisure class”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Cl... I generally agree about taxes, in particular an estate tax on wealth.
  - nextaccountic 5y ago
    In which sense they are the most capable?
  - throwawaynumber 5y ago
    Inheriting a house is inherited wealth, your baseline assumptions for wealth are completely divorced from reality.
- motioncuty 5y ago
  Is a bathtub full if it just got started filling at a high rate?
pizza 5y ago
It used to be the case more that the ultra rich didn't work; but nowadays they often have a lot of wealth generating assets + high paying jobs - 'homoploutia', as coined by Branko Milanovic
rahimnathwani 5y ago
Often people use 'affluent' to refer to high flow, as opposed to rich/wealthy (high stock).

ffggvv 5y ago

a lot of these professionals could be making 7 or 8 figures a year. they don’t “have” to work. they choose to. and there’s much more people in this elite strata than if you only count the traditional ultra wealthy

lotsofpulp 5y ago
There are a total of 358k people in the US that earned $1M+ in 2020. Seems like a very small population to be talking about out of a country of 330M. There are probably only ~20k people earning $10M+. https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/ There is a vast difference between earning mid six figures and “could be earning 7 or 8 figures”. And there is a vast difference in lifestyle between those who can maintain their lifestyle by doing nothing and those who have to grind to maintain it.

darepublic 5y ago

> I prefer a society where everyone have min well being and better off people have some luxuries ^ people will still fight tooth and nail for the luxuries even if the basic floor of existence keeps rising. It's like that proverb of the dogs, it's not enough that we succeed, cats must fail. I assume it had to do with the competition of passing on your genes.

theonlybutlet 5y ago
Not really, that's cultural. In the recent past, status was also associated with professions that made a positive contribution toward society such as doctors. Nowadays you're a respected leader if you own a big ass yacht even if it's luck. The longer term trend was this material wealth but I blame that on inequality, which is rising now.
- reeeee1234 5y ago
  >not really, that's cultural. Some things are cultural, however competition for mates and sexual selection is not one of them. I see this attitude as a lateral movement of the anti Darwinists from Protestantism to woke. People compete with each other in order to be more desirable to more desirable mates and to win their affection. This is foundational to evolution itself. Saying ”not really" to established science which undergirds all medicine and biology is an expression of fundamentalist extremism no one should let pass. Also, society confers far more esteem to cancer researchers than Hollywood moguls exactly because they make a positive contribution. Sorry. It's wrong to let that kind of ignorance pass unrebutted.

refurb 5y ago

Someone earning more than ~$400k per year puts them in the top 1% of income earners. They earn more than 99% of the population. And you’re saying these people aren’t rich?

senkora 5y ago
A lot of them aren’t “culturally rich”. They grew up upper middle class (so a stable home life and a solid education with family support but no expectation of inherited wealth) and strongly value education and work ethic. I would actually argue that this is a good thing. A society benefits when its most capable members continue to work hard.
- refurb 5y ago
  Not sure what “culturally rich” means, but if the problem is income I equality, the top 1% need to pay more taxes.
  - senkora 5y ago
    You could also use the term “leisure class”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Cl... I generally agree about taxes, in particular an estate tax on wealth.
- nextaccountic 5y ago
  In which sense they are the most capable?
- throwawaynumber 5y ago
  Inheriting a house is inherited wealth, your baseline assumptions for wealth are completely divorced from reality.
motioncuty 5y ago
Is a bathtub full if it just got started filling at a high rate?

pizza 5y ago

It used to be the case more that the ultra rich didn't work; but nowadays they often have a lot of wealth generating assets + high paying jobs - 'homoploutia', as coined by Branko Milanovic

rahimnathwani 5y ago

Often people use 'affluent' to refer to high flow, as opposed to rich/wealthy (high stock).