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The good thing is that there isn't anything stopping 1 single person in America in duplicating your success. Plenty of people gain wealth through hard work, sacrificing and determination. Honestly it's also hard work and risky. So many people prefer to just work for someone else. They feel the risk isn't worth it. But then they will only rise to a certain level financially.
In some ways, generational wealth is a bit of a curse.
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Smart investments and money management skills are not always passed down with wealth. A staggering 70 percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the next generation, with 90 percent losing it the generation after that.
There is nothing wrong being employee of corporation or someone else is the boss,not everyone wants to work 80 hours a week,take on such responsibility and risk,or capable of leading,they also want to spend some time with their family or outside interest.
can you imagine everyone wants to be the boss,where is Henry Ford or Sam walton going to find any worker?
The good thing is that there isn't anything stopping 1 single person in America in duplicating your success. Plenty of people gain wealth through hard work, sacrificing and determination. Honestly it's also hard work and risky. So many people prefer to just work for someone else. They feel the risk isn't worth it. But then they will only rise to a certain level financially.
In some ways, generational wealth is a bit of a curse.
This is where I disagree.
While I don't agree everything in life is a zero sum game, certain resources definitely are.
Land (short of landfill) isn't being produced anymore. Prime real estate are all accounted for.
Everything close to desirable jobs (i.e. city centers) are extremely expensive.
We are in different times than my parents where a single parent could earn enough to raise a family, and actually it was around that time where both parents working full time jobs became a necessity.
Sure, one could be renters their whole life, but the key to building wealth is owning assets.
This is where I disagree.
While I don't agree everything in life is a zero sum game, certain resources definitely are.
Land (short of landfill) isn't being produced anymore. Prime real estate are all accounted for.
Everything close to desirable jobs (i.e. city centers) are extremely expensive.
We are in different times than my parents where a single parent could earn enough to raise a family, and actually it was around that time where both parents working full time jobs became a necessity.
Sure, one could be renters their whole life, but the key to building wealth is owning assets.
Agree with most of your statements, but asset classes and their relative worth can and do change. All the good coastal real estate is taken? How much will it be worth in 20-30 years with rising sea levels and constant flooding? I know plenty of areas in Miami that are worth millions now, but they're on borrowed time.
The majority of wealth for nearly all of history has been concentrated in tangible assets... that is changing rapidly. Look at the rise of crypto currencies, NFTs, etc. People pay millions for digital assets... things that do not exist at all in the physical world. That is the new frontier of wealth building, and it will be younger, technologically savvier people than us who take full advantage of it.
I am the prototypical American that has benefited greatly from capitalism.
My family was lower middle class growing up, but with hard work and some smarts and a lot of luck, I made something of myself.
I bought my first place in my mid 20's (not an easy feat for someone in the NE where real estate is very expensive) and continued to accumulate houses and wealth.
I now (in my 30s) have multiple properties, in addition to a very high paying day job, which affords me the ability to purchase even more wealth building assets.
I have stopped purchasing homes since covid, given the red hot, overpriced housing market (but did take advantage of low interest rates to refi a few), so I have more money than I know what to do with. It's a first world problem, but still a problem nonetheless, since I have very little faith in both the housing and stock markets ATM. Having it sit in a bank account where inflation is eating away at it kills me.
But focusing on real estate only... I have a few tenants that struggle to pay rent. Some are a few months behind and obviously are not doing well financially. Their chances of ever owning a home outright are slim to none.
My future children OTOH will inherit my wealth and properties and continue to benefit with a great headstart on life, and hopefully take full advantage of that and get ahead further on easy street.
Of course they could squander my wealth if I don't instill a strong work ethic in them, but compared to my tenants, they have a huge head start.
Fast forward a few generations and we have what is now the US - a huge divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots. We have what I'm doing with RE on a much grander scale (Blackrock). We have billionaires influencing politics to pass laws that benefit them even more. I am small potatoes compared to them, so I can't even begin to fathom what it's like to be them, but I can see how inherently destructive the system is.
What we have is rentier capitalism - we have a class of asset owners, and a lower class that rents from them, and it's getting increasingly hard to crossover as witnessed by a much lower percentage of millennials owning their homes when compared to their parents at the same age.
I see no other out other than a collapse caused by a revolution, an uprising, possibly a civil war.
It can start by congress enforcing anti-trust laws and passing new anti-trust legislation. As far as I'm concerned these laws have been ignored for at least a couple of decades.
My family was lower middle class growing up, but with hard work and some smarts and a lot of luck, I made something of myself.
Thank you for proving it has nothing to do with Capitalism and everything to do with hard work, a lot of smarts and some luck.
Thank you for also proving wealth is something that one must desire, and work hard to get (and keep.)
Wealth is a choice.
I choose/chose not to have wealth. My priorities were family, profession, education, travel, and other personal goals, none of which were related to creating wealth.
While I choose not to generate wealth, I don't denigrate others who do.
If people choose not to work hard, that is not the fault of Capitalism.
I get that not everybody has a big brain. Even though I have a huge brain, there are things I do not know or do not understand, but instead of sitting in a corner and sulking, I ask others for help, or to explain things to me or go learn about it myself.
Free resources are available for anyone with the desire to learn and if people refuse to take advantage of those resources, that is not the fault of Capitalism.
I had 3 businesses. Well, two I guess, since one moved to Florida with me. The first one I didn't know what I was doing but I ran into a guy who knew what I didn't know and I knew what he didn't know and it was like marriage made in heaven.
Still, we didn't have any money, so we talked to people and made phone calls -- you know what a "phone" is don't you? -- and we found a 3rd person willing to be a silent partner and put up the money.
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Originally Posted by bluesclues5
But focusing on real estate only... I have a few tenants that struggle to pay rent. Some are a few months behind and obviously are not doing well financially. Their chances of ever owning a home outright are slim to none.
That's a personal problem that has nothing to do with Capitalism.
Instead of wasting time posting on forums, you should be teaching them things like budgeting skills and how to stretch their dollar farther and make their money work for them.
There is absolutely nothing that prohibits anyone from getting with 3 or 5 or 7 other people and pooling their resources to buy a 4, 6 or 8 unit apartment building and living there until they can make that power move and buy their own home -- assuming they really want to own a home because not everybody does.
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Originally Posted by bluesclues5
Fast forward a few generations and we have what is now the US - a huge divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots.
You make a lot of baseless assumptions.
You have no guarantees that your progeny will not squander their wealth in the pursuit of satisfying every infantile urge, which is why the people who don't have wealth don't have wealth, because they do nothing to acquire wealth.
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Originally Posted by bluesclues5
We have billionaires influencing politics to pass laws that benefit them even more.
Not only are you readily helping them, you refuse to take any common sense action to stop them.
I have repeatedly presented a Proposed 28th Amendment which restores federalism in part by protecting the sovereignty of the several States and bars political meddling by those who think they have the right to meddle just because they have the money.
There may be nothing more disturbing than people bashing capitalism with narrow logic, bad numbers and often no numbers.
2021 per The World Bank countries ranked by PPP adjusted median disposable income (the best way to measure wealth across the masses and countries).
1. Luxembourg - special case micro-economy
2. UAE - oil fiefdom
3. Norway - the world's natural resource lottery winner including worlds of oil
4. Switzerland - Russian oligarch banking capital that also runs an economy based on incredibly efficient markets. Everyone who can is expected to work.
5. The USA - The US is the only large economy in the top ten. The combination of an incredibly dynamic economy, still relatively free markets and relatively low taxes all play a part.
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There may be nothing in macroeconomis more absurd that all the crying about wealth inequality in The US and first world for that matter.
Gini................all of these countries and many more places none of you would move to have, "better" GINI index scores than The US.....Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Belarus, Slovakia, Russia, Latvia and more.
The US and UK have similar Gini scores.
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Generally people in The US do very well across many metrics. According to The OECD's Better Life Index The US is a better place to live than any other large economy.........and better than France, UK, Spain, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Italy, Germany and some more.
where do those billioniares get their $$?
from us,so if you resent them,tear up your VISA,MC,AMEX,drink tap water,use landline phone,stop streaming movies,stay home and mown your lawn instead of short vacation to exotic islands,,use fan instead of A/C,turn off heater and wear heavy underwear,make your own meals and stop ordering fast food.
This is where I disagree.
While I don't agree everything in life is a zero sum game, certain resources definitely are.
Land (short of landfill) isn't being produced anymore. Prime real estate are all accounted for.
Everything close to desirable jobs (i.e. city centers) are extremely expensive.
We are in different times than my parents where a single parent could earn enough to raise a family, and actually it was around that time where both parents working full time jobs became a necessity.
Sure, one could be renters their whole life, but the key to building wealth is owning assets.
I never bought into "there is not enough land" excuse. There is plenty of land. You could literally fit the world's population into Texas. The problem is there isn't enough land in desirable areas that the government will release for housing. The crazy zoning and land use restrictions while being promoted as public good really only serves to keep supply low therefore preserving values. I live in one of the fastest growing metros in the country. Whenever any development is proposed the NIMBYS come out in full swing and complain until the development is greatly scaled down or discontinued.
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