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Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC
West, your attitude is precisely indicative of everything that is wrong with America today. You don't seem to know what it means to "just get up and do it." My guess is you're a sapling who never witnessed such a thing.
This is a very sad commentary on our nation. No wonder OWS appeals to the Leftist masses. You folks wouldn't know hard work and reward if it fell out of the sky and hit you in the head.
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This income mobility, Horatio Alger story, is largely a myth.
Conservatives suffer from the delusion that every poor uneducated person out their can become a zillionaire, if they only work hard. It's this fantasy that drives people who never will have enough to be subject to the inheritance tax from supporting it.
Let us examine this upward mobility fantasy. While it is certainly true that many sports stars do move from the poor to wealth, sports stars are rare. Lets look at the very wealthy on the Forbes 400 list. What we see is that most were already born on third base:
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Half of those on the Forbes 400 list started their economic careers by inheriting businesses or substantial wealth. Of these, most inherited sufficient wealth to put them immediately into Forbes' heaven. Only three out of ten on the Forbes list can be regarded as self-starters whose parents did not have great wealth or own a business with more than a few employees.
A breakdown:
42 % Born on Home Plate: inherited sufficient wealth to rank among the Forbes 400. This percentage is higher than that listed by Forbes for inheritors. The reason: Forbes listed as "self-made" people who actually inherited substantial sums or property and then later built that stake into a greater fortune. One example is Philip Anschutz (1997 net worth: $5.2 billion) who is listed as "self-made" even though he inherited a $500-million oil and gas field.
6 % Born on Third Base: inherited substantial wealth in excess of $50 million or a large and prosperous company and grew this initial fortune into membership in the Forbes 400.
7 % Born on Second Base: inherited a medium-sized business or wealth of more than $1 million or received substantial start-up capital for a business from a family member.
14 % Born on First Base: biography indicates wealthy or upper-class background that was to our knowledge less than $1 million, or received some start-up capital from a family member. Due to the study team's conservative coding rule, it is likely that some of those listed as born on first base actually belong on second or third base.
31 % Born in the Batter's Box: individuals and families whose parents did not have great wealth or own a business with more than a few employees.
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