[ExI] Protected Elites

[Damien Sullivan]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 07:25:49PM +0000, BillK wrote:

> This is a reference to the Forbes rich list of 2007.
> They found 946 billionaires, of which 60% made their own fortunes.

1) How many because of the dot-com or real-estate bubbles, or CEO
compensation of dubious economic justification?

2) What exactly does "made their own fortune" mean?  Bill Gates is a lot
wealthier than his parents... but Wikipedia calls them upper middle
class: prominent lawyer father, mother served on bank board of
directors, her father was a bank president.  The mothers at his school
bought computer access for the students, in 1968.  Social mobility often
looks at quintiles; he probably started out in the top quintile.

-xx- Damien X-)