This reminds me of PG's essay on how to create wealth: "his essay is about how to make money by creating wealth and getting paid for it. There are plenty of ot

This reminds me of PG's essay on how to create wealth: "his essay is about how to make money by creating wealth and getting paid for it. There are plenty of other ways to get money, including chance, speculation, marriage, inheritance, theft, extortion, fraud, monopoly, graft, lobbying, counterfeiting, and prospecting. Most of the greatest fortunes have probably involved several of these." There was a time when inheritance was considered more honorable than trade (typical of most aristocratic societies), but that's been pretty well dismissed by now. In most free market democracies, the social respect for huge fortunes tends to be closely correlated with the proximity of the activity to the direct creation of wealth. So high tech tends to be viewed very favorably. Seeking wealth through marriage is viewed unfavorably ("gold-digging"). Flipping condos is tolerated but not highly respected, but renovating for a profit is viewed more positively. Vast sums won through litigation tend to be irritating (though people generally reserve their scorn for the big share taken by the attorney, less so for the litigants). These activities aren't despised, but they are respected less than the true wealth creators. And lastly, of course, there's genuine hatred for the illegal (or legal but predatory) practices like extortion, robbery, cartel-building, and so forth. Finance probably isn't despised (or at least wasn't until the recent bail-out), but because it's perceived as further down the chain from high-tech, it will generate more resentment than admiration. By the way, high tech isn't completely clean here - Carly Fiorina did receive a huge retirement package - worth about $40 mil, I think.