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I have pretty much zero problem with someone like Musk being a Billionare. Most billionaires made their money in finance or via generational wealth. Seeing a s

I have pretty much zero problem with someone like Musk being a Billionare. Most billionaires made their money in finance or via generational wealth. Seeing a scrappy immigrant (Even with a $200k business loan) go from practically nothing to the richest man in the world, while doing things that actually have a positive impact on society is pretty much the epitome of the American Dream.

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indiv0 5y ago
"Scrappy immigrant" whose father was a half-owner of an emerald mine in Zambia. I can't think of a more on-the-nose example of the evils of generational wealth.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  So what was Musk's net worth when he was twenty? Probably less than 0,1 per cent of his net worth today. Possibly less than 0,01 per cent. Multiplying your net worth by a factor of several thousand is fairly rare, regardless of the circumstances you start in. Most people can't do it, even if they start reasonably well off. For example, Musk's own brother Kimbal couldn't.
  - riversflow 5y ago
    > Multiplying your net worth by a factor of several thousand is fairly rare, regardless of the circumstances you start in lol. No it isn't, maybe if you are born wealthy, but plenty of people have a negative net worth at 20 (no savings yet and student/car loans) and are home owners by 40.
    - inglor_cz 5y ago
      Fair enough. But you are basically agreeing with me that those with non-trivial positive net worth in their youth will find multiplying it by several thousand times harder. And we should rule out massive inheritance to be fair, too. That can cause sudden large jumps in net worth. A person having 10 000 USD in their youth (far from wealthy, just not poor) would need to aggregate something like 50 million USD in their fifties. Possible, but rare.
MisterBastahrd 5y ago
Musk made his money from a combination of generational wealth and government handouts.

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indiv0 5y ago

"Scrappy immigrant" whose father was a half-owner of an emerald mine in Zambia. I can't think of a more on-the-nose example of the evils of generational wealth.

inglor_cz 5y ago
So what was Musk's net worth when he was twenty? Probably less than 0,1 per cent of his net worth today. Possibly less than 0,01 per cent. Multiplying your net worth by a factor of several thousand is fairly rare, regardless of the circumstances you start in. Most people can't do it, even if they start reasonably well off. For example, Musk's own brother Kimbal couldn't.
- riversflow 5y ago
  > Multiplying your net worth by a factor of several thousand is fairly rare, regardless of the circumstances you start in lol. No it isn't, maybe if you are born wealthy, but plenty of people have a negative net worth at 20 (no savings yet and student/car loans) and are home owners by 40.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    Fair enough. But you are basically agreeing with me that those with non-trivial positive net worth in their youth will find multiplying it by several thousand times harder. And we should rule out massive inheritance to be fair, too. That can cause sudden large jumps in net worth. A person having 10 000 USD in their youth (far from wealthy, just not poor) would need to aggregate something like 50 million USD in their fifties. Possible, but rare.

MisterBastahrd 5y ago

Musk made his money from a combination of generational wealth and government handouts.