[extropy-chat] Inheritance

Samantha Atkins sjatkins at mac.com
Fri Jul 29 10:28:29 UTC 2005


On Jul 28, 2005, at 8:43 PM, The Avantguardian wrote:

>
>
> --- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>> Who decides what is rational?
>>
> If it IS truly rational it shouldn't matter, just like
> 2+2 should equal 4 no matter who does the math.
>

Uh huh.  And your proposal re inheritance meets this criteria?  No?   
Then why should yours be enforced above people's free choice?

>
>> Who decides what to do
>> with the excess?
>>
>
> Well if people wrote their wills correctly, there
> would be no excess. I never mentioned taxes or the
> government. If you have 20 million dollars and only
> one kid, and you can't think of 19 other deserving
> people or organizations to give your money to, you
> might as well be a monkey.

By what ironclad rationality do you reach the conlclusion that no one  
should inherit more than $1 million or that a rich person should  
leave any heir more than that?  I missed your derivation of that result.


>
>
>> You want that money wasted by GOVERNMENT on stupid,
>> wasteful, and
>> unproductive luxuries for bureacrats, instead of the
>> kids for whom
>> their parents slaved to earn their fortunes?
>>
>
> Once again, the government SHOULD have nothing to do
> with it, except to enforce the inheritance caps on any
> individual heirs.

Where did the caps come from though?  You just thought them up with  
little justification,

> There will have to be a way of
> working trust funds into the equation as well, as they
> seem to be no more than tax-shelters to allow the
> effective inheriting of wealth without technically
> inheriting it.

Trust funds are used for a variety of purposes many of which are  
quite benign.  Before you condemn something you may want to look into  
it a bit.

> If there is excess, then that is the
> fine imposed by society for being a selfish greedy
> bastard.

Resentment clearly at work!  Excess???  How much "excess" does it  
take to fund research that your society would otherwise not fund that  
is critical to our dreams?   What is excessive about someone having  
so much of value to give that they accumulated more than most in  
their live and what is wrong with them making their own decisions  
about where their assets go on their demise without bothering to  
consider your opinions on the matter?

> Hell if letting the government get a hold of
> the excess bothers you so much, then you are free to
> require that they bury the wealth with you or erect a
> monument to the libertarian party or something.
> Sheesh, use your mind come up with a bunch of creative
> ideas, just don't give it ALL to one kid.

Why not if that is my wish?  It is my money, not yours or society's.

>
>
>> If I
>> ever manage to pile
>> up massive wealth, once I figure out what to do with
>> most of it for
>> posterity, and assuming I don't achieve immortality
>> myself, I sure as
>> hell would rather that it be wasted by my
>> hypothetical kids and
>> grandkids than some bastard bureaucrats or friggin
>> Senator.
>>
>
> Why have it wasted at all when you can, with a little
> extra work, truly help shape the world that you leave
> behind for the betterment of all? Or are you just a
> slave of your selfish genes?
>

How about you manage your own assets to your satisfaction and keep  
your hands off the assets of others? Or are you just a busybody know- 
it-all who believes the wold will go to hell if everyone is not  
forced to do things as you see fit?

- samantha




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