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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (158467)	1/20/2003 10:28:43 AM
From: hmaly	Respond to of 1574280

Ted Re..172 equals 43% of 400, therefore only 57% of those listed did not inherit their money. I do not consider 57% a vast majority. Of the people listed as "self-made" it is almost certain that several of them inherited a large sum of money that is not included in the information on the Forbes list. 57% to 43% is far more than a simple majority. Besides, how does that artificial point of 400 rich people describe what Rush was talking about. Maybe Rush was talking about the top 2000 or any family over top 30% in earnings, etc. Many of the wealthy live a lavish life style and do little that helps the economy. The Expert says, "On this one, Rush is wrong." I would say that that expert is an idiot. Love em or hate em, most rich pay more taxes, invest more money, and hire more people, and create far more wealth than most of us. Just by spending their money here, it gives people jobs. If we are looking at people who don't help the economy, why not look at the poor, or how about lawyers, or how about stupid experts who write meaningless claptrap such as that article.

To: tejek who wrote (158467)	1/20/2003 4:12:05 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574280

Your "debunking" of the "myth" provides evidence of my claim. Even if we accept your source completely (and I see no reason for me to trust it any more then you trust Rush) its conclusion is "only 57% of those listed did not inherit their money." In other words a majority on the list did not inherit their money. And that is using very generous standards of what inheriting the money would mean. For example Ted Turner who turned two million in to billions, did not really inherit his wealth your source counts him as part of the 43% who inherited his wealth. If you take just those who directly inherited a fortune large enough to put them at the top then according to Forbes almost 75% of the wealthiest Americans did not inherit their wealth. Perhaps 74 or 75% is to low to qualify as "the vast majority" but that was Rush's statement not mine. My point is that the majority of those on the top did not start out on the top. Thank you for confirming my point. Tim