4 ms·
In which western countries are 90% of the billionaires children of government officials?
by rdouble 17y ago
In which western countries are 90% of the billionaires children of government officials?
- jacquesm 17y agoerrm... I said 'degree' didn't I ? I meant that in any society the number of people that will make it big that have connections will outnumber those that do not. It's very hard to 'make it on your own', in any society and China is (unsurprisingly) no exception. News would have been 90% of Chinese billionaires (or millionaires or some other metric) had no family or other connection to power. On another note, there are only 9 Chinese billionaires in all (10 if you count HK); see http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires_CountryOfPrmRes_3.html http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-World...
- rdouble 17y agoThe news was 90% of Chinese billionaires are actually kids of government officials. That would be like if the billionaires in the UK were children of parliamentary officials or if the billionaires in the USA were children of senators and representatives. It's wrong to equivocate the Chinese situation with simply having "connections." It's a fundamental structural difference between China and "western societies." Also, what you're implying in the weak sense is probably wrong. Billionaire lists are easily found on the internet and if you look at the bios of the people on such lists, I would assert the opposite - most of the billionaires in western countries started out with few significant connections at all.
- jacquesm 17y agoGates: son of a lawyer, Buffet: son of a politician, Slim: son of a real estate broker and so on... Connections help. In a totalitarian society they help more. The only thing that stops the situation from being much worse is term limits.
- rdouble 17y agoBuffet's father wasn't a politician until after Buffet was rich. If anything, in western countries it's easier to become a government official because you're related to someone rich than it is to get rich because you're the kid of a government official.
- nostrademons 17y agoThere's a difference in degree here too though: there's a massive difference between "son of a lawyer" and "son of a central committee member". Gates is considered one of the more privileged billionaires, because his mother was on the board of directors for United Way and his father was a prominent lawyer. That seems like a crack down from his parents being President or in the Cabinet. It also ignores counterexamples like Steve Jobs (from a working class, blue collar family), Larry Ellison (Jewish immigrants who worked as modest government employees) or Larry Page and Sergey Brin (children of professors).
- maigret 17y agoHm well professor is not exactly middle class either... Actually children of professors are probably the best prepared to make a great career more than anyone else. Parents with connections, lots of knowledge and more time than people working in the industry - that's the perfect mix. I know a few sons of professors, they just surf through life.
- 17y ago
- omail 17y agoI count 16, Chinese citizenship: Wong Kwong Yu, Zhang Li, Zhang Jindong, Chu Mang Yee, Zhang Cheng Fei, Guo Guangchang, Liu Yongxing, Xu Jiayin, Liu Yonghao, Lu Guanqiu, William Ding, Zong Qinghou, Li Wei, Song Weiping, Liang Wengen, Chen Fashu Hong Kong: Li Sze Lim Australia: Shi Zhengrong USA: Roger Wang Nineteen if you count these other guys. All reside in China. Interestingly enough, this list does not include the people listed at the bottom of the article: Hu Haifeng, Winston Wen Yunsong, Jiang Mianheng, Li Xiaopeng, and Levin Zhu.
- joe_the_user 17y agoOne interesting thing about the article is pointed to a specific, one-way path. Sons of high government official became wealthy entrepreneurs. They didn't and apparently couldn't become high government officials themselves. Their offspring perhaps also cannot become high official. Moroever, they will eventually have to compete with the sons of new high officials, since the high officials themselves are apparently drawn from all over. An interesting trend and perhaps more interesting than just the simple concentration of power - though power often likes to concentrate.