From: Rabid Wombat <wombat@mcfeely.bsfs.org>
To: Jim Wise <jim@santafe.arch.columbia.edu>
Message Hash: f2678c87999144a3c0b0a73c8ec1eb7da285f08dc006af04d457acb3299f103a
Message ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.961123124906.6152C-100000@mcfeely.bsfs.org>
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UTC Datetime: 1996-11-23 19:06:29 UTC
Raw Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 11:06:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Rabid Wombat <wombat@mcfeely.bsfs.org>
Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 11:06:29 -0800 (PST)
To: Jim Wise <jim@santafe.arch.columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: wealth and property rights
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On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, Jim Wise wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Nov 1996, `Jon Galt' wrote:
>
> > What an interesting topic for this list. I really must point out that most
> > wealth in this country is first generation wealth - in other words, most
> > wealth is EARNED, not "handed down".
>
> Please back this statement up. The fact is, contrary to our grand self-image,
> America has one of the lowest rates of class mobility in the world. Just shy
> of forty percent of the wealth (in land and capital) in the U.S. is possessed
> by one percent of the population. This far outstrips, for example,
> Great Britain, where the top one percent of society holds 18% of the nation's
> wealth. Continuing down the line, the top 20% of the us population hold more
> than 80% of the nation's wealth. [Source New York Times, April 17. 1995, p.1]
>
Yup. I agree with you here - every year Forbes puts out its list of the
richest people in America. I'm too lazy to go digging under the coffee
table to find the issue, but as I recall, a good number of the people on
the list made their money the old-fasioned way - they inherited it.
Also - most people inthis country do not have true "wealth" - most are
fairly leveraged with mortgages and other loans, so their true net worth
is not all that high.
The "coupon-clipping" class is mostly "old money."
-r.w.
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