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[quote=Anonymous][quote=TheManWithAUsername][quote=Anonymous]The power of the internet:
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/01/14/the-decline-of-inherited-money/

Please try again.
[/quote]
I didn’t say you were wrong; I expressed skepticism. I figured the best support would be something like what you cited; my response is below.

Meahwhile…what about everything else I had to say? Will the WSJ support your “liberal” views on all of that too?

To the WSJ piece:
[quote=WSJ]1. According to a study of Federal Reserve data conducted by NYU professor Edward Wolff, for the nation’s richest 1%, inherited wealth accounted for only 9% of their net worth in 2001, down from 23% in 1989. (The 2001 number was the latest available.)[/quote]
The richest 1% are billionaires. Nine percent of $1 billion is $90 million. That’s a real hardscrabble youth.
[quote=WSJ]2. According to a study by Prince & Associates, less than 10% of today’s multi-millionaires cited “inheritance” as their source of wealth.[/quote]
What? They credited primarily themselves for their success? I guess I’m wrong then.

Self-report problems aside, again note that even a small portion of numbers that big is a huge leg up. You inherit $1 million and turn it into $20 million, and you’re self-made?
[quote=WSJ]3. A study by Spectrem Group found that among today’s millionaires, inherited wealth accounted for just 2% of their total sources of wealth.[/quote]
Getting better here, but we’re still only talking about direct inherited money, and I’m not seeing support for what you said. You said, “The vast majority…of wealthy and high income people in this country start off with very little and WORK hard.” I don’t see “very little,” especially as you haven’t addressed all of the factors in upbringing.

Here’s the class warfare I see: rich and comfortable people feeling guilty about letting the poor suffer and generally fearful of losing all of their important stuff attacking poor people to feel better about the whole situation.

As I said, most people with high incomes do have to work hard, and chose to put themselves in that situation. That doesn’t mean that everyone has had equal access to that choice.[/quote]

OP here. Yes I'm a social liberal. I support a multicultural society with rights and choices etc. I do not consider myself a conservative. HOWEVER, we worked so damn hard to be here, missed out on fun in college to go to the library and study and do it again for our advanced degrees. Toiled the first few years out of school working long hard hours. Oh and my parents, working class stiffs in a shitty state that is losing residents. I support them now, pay their car note, pay for trips to see their grandkids, pay house note, pay for them to come on family vacations with us, buy gifts for our kids and label it from them. So if you want the "rich" to pay more at least acknowledge that they are paying most of the taxes in this country and more importantly to me the District. [/quote]

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