[quote=davelj]it’s pretty clear to me (at least) that our system is rigged to perpetuate the ultra-wealthy[/quote]
Although I agree it would seem this way lately, there is some pretty basic evidence to the contrary:
Look at the list of the 20 or so richest people in the US and notice most of them are first-generation wealth. And most of the rest are second-generation.[/quote]
Yes, but I virtually guarantee you that the families of “this top 20” or so will remain in that top 1% – if not near the very top of the pyramid – for many generations.
For example, none of the Rockefellers are in the top few-hundred richest folks in the U.S. anymore, but hundreds of them have net worths north of $10 million and thus remain among the ranks of the quite wealthy (in relative terms). (A friend of mine is a multi-generation removed heir to the Vanderbilt/Whitney fortune – he’s quite wealthy despite not having accomplished a great deal commercially, although he’s a very smart, personable guy.)
Whether you have $20 billion or $20 million you remain in rarefied air from a socioeconomic standpoint.
