04-28-2021, 02:53 AM
Marc Anthony wrote:
They may like to think otherwise, but most wealthy people aren't self-made. Others educated them and built the systems/infrastructure that enabled that wealth to be created and funneled to them. Success is a debt to society that they are disproportionately able to pay.
Yeah, there is a pervasive sense that they merit their wealth based on their work and brains. But there is no magic fairy touching people with her "merit" wand in the way wealth is distributed. As you say, for them to make their wealth they depend on the efforts and cooperation of a vast number of people - how do we account for that when assessing merited fortune? And, as Sarcany says, inheritance plays a huge role in the wealth of a lot of wealthy people. Inheritance isn't merited wealth. That great wealth is merited is a fallacy as far as I'm concerned.