[ExI] Protected Elites

[Stefano Vaj]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 9:25 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is a reference to the Forbes rich list of 2007.
> They found 946 billionaires, of which 60% made their own fortunes.

I am not really referring to "billionaires" as opposed to upper
middle-class, but rather to the fact that upper middle class
perpetuates itself, especially in Europe.

In other terms, if you are rich below a certain threshold *and*
stupid, you can usually find consultants protecting for you your
wealth and doing the necessary in order to have your children have a
very good chance to remain in the same class, partly through
inheritance of family wealth, partly through education and above all
connections.

On the other hand, I suspect that dramatic upward social mobility has
more frequently to do with "marrying up", becoming a show-biz star, or
becoming a sport champion, and more rarely with your genius as an
entrepreneur or an inventor.

Of course, my first-hand experience is Europe, but my impression is
that also in the US social Darwinism remains more of a myth than most
of its partisans and opponents may think.

-- 
Stefano Vaj