>Yes and no. Here the Rockefellers, Fords, Kennedys seem to be doing pretty well. None, I suppose has the clout of the previous or prior generations, but they a

>Yes and no. Here the Rockefellers, Fords, Kennedys seem to be doing pretty well. None, I suppose has the clout of the previous or prior generations, but they aren't out on the street. Sometimes the appearance and trappings of wealth—social connections, grand houses, an important name, legacy at ivy league schools, etc—can last longer than the money itself. Obviously these can set people up to have great success on their own, but they can also simply mask to the outside world the fact that the family fortune has been diluted among great-grandchildren and squandered by a crazy uncle and a couple of divorces gone wrong.