Posted by
Andrews on Monday, July 20, 2009 8:59:29 PM
I am tired of a cultural myth. That is the myth that the rich are somehow "lucky". Excepting a very, very few, the rich are not rich because they were lucky, but because they were smart and worked hard.
Then again, the "lucky" myth is beneficial to politicians. For instance, when Obama says "I think the best way to fund (health care) is for people like myself who have been very lucky, to pay a little bit more", it works for voters, because if the rich are only rich because of luck, then it is just to take from them. We are not taking from them the rewards of their hard work, just taking a bit they got because they just happened to win the lottery of life.
Let me give an example. There is a fellow who was one year ahead of me in high school. Since I went to a small private school, I knew him well. We were in model rocket club together, in fact. I ran into him a few years ago and we were both doing pretty much the same thing, both drones in the computer industry. In the five years since, he has taken a small, part time job and turned it into a very successful firm, making him worth hundreds of times what I am.
So, is he lucky?
No. Nor is he "lucky" in having been "born smart" or "had all the advantages". He was hardly the child of privilege, his family was a bit better off than mine, but not much. And while he is smart, but not a genius. In fact, without bragging, I can say, in strictly academic terms, I am probably smarter.
If it wasn't luck, then what was it? Why did he get rich while I stayed the same?
He differed in two key ways. First, he had a good idea I did not. Second, and most importantly, while I was devoting time to my new child, and to writing, and allowing myself a generous amount of leisure to boot, he was committing himself, for hour upon hour, day upon day, to his new business. And that is the thing no one tells you. How much time those "lucky" rich sacrifice. Many spend little or no time with their families. Many are "on call" more hours than doctors are. They often sacrifice their entire lives to their businesses.
And that is the truth behind wealth. Yes, a few inherit it, and some, such as some actors, get it without putting in those hours. But most, from lawyers to doctors to star athletes, sacrifice a lot to get that money. They are far from "lucky", they are dedicated, and that is why they are rich.
But admitting as much might make the voters feel guilty about stealing their money.
POSTSCRIPT
One thing of even more interest is how easy it is for "privileged" children to lose everything. Having come from a private school with many wealthy children, I know several who inherited and lost fortunes. A very good friend inherited a fortune to lose it all blowing it on drinking and drugs. Another, the heir to a very significant fortune, tried to work int he family business, but due to a lack of commitment found himself being effectively fired by his father.
So, yes, some may inherit wealth, or have a "leg up" from being born into wealth, but that really provides much less advantage than the envious would have you believe. It is possible for a child to inherit wealth and then turn it over to a good money manager and stay rich without working, but even finding a good money manager requires some skill, and many wealthy children have lost fortunes by fumbling that seemingly simple step.
No, despite the claims, those who inherit wealth really do have to work to keep it. It really is possible to go "from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations". Dynamic economies make keeping wealth harder than those without money imagine. (Though, oddly, the many anti-business laws the left favors make it easier for established fortunes to be maintained. But that is a subject for a future post.)
POSTSCRIPT II
Sorry for the lack of substantive posts today, as well as lack of replies to comments. Work was busy and I had some things to do at home. I will try to do more tomorrow, but at the moment I am worn out and simply not up to either writing or reading and replying to comments. I feel bad about it, as I do value my readers and hate leaving them waiting days for a response, but I hope they will forgive me the past couple of weeks. In the future I promise to reply more promptly.
POSTSCRIPT III
I just realized in the post above, I mentioned that the fellow I described was only a little better off than my family, but forgot to describe my own circumstances. So, to lay to rest any belief I may be rich, let me tell about my parents. My father has spent his entire life in law enforcement. Not in the upper echelons, but in the trenches. He did have two brushes with management, for a few years acting as head of security at a small university, and later making the rank of captain in a specialized police force. But some political infighting led to his eventual demotion, and when he finally retired he was only a lieutenant.
My mother was a life long school teacher. She did attend law school for a year before dropping out (apparently a family tradition), but she was a teacher her whole life (and still is). She taught at private schools for the most part, but that is hardly a lucrative profession.
Nor were my grandparents rich. My paternal grandfather was a petty officer in the navy who ended up teaching sailing at the Naval Academy before retiring in the 30's to work for the Baltimore & Annapolis railroad (later part of the B&O) as a brakeman. He was called up for landing craft duty in World War II and saw hand to hand combat on several Pacific islands (about which he had nightmares until he died, in his late 80's). My maternal grandfather was the child of Ukranian immigrants who worked in the coal mines as a teen, fleeing that life by joining the Army air corps. He was trained as a flight engineer, and served on bombers out of Aberdeen in WWII. He later was flight engineer on Air Force One for five presidents, also one of the first people to achieve the rank of E-9. He finished his military career working on the space program, a job he continued as a civilian Bendix employee.
As you can see, I was hardly the child of privilege. I did attend private schools, but I did so because my mother worked part time as a waitress, while my father held down a variety of part time retail jobs, sometimes two at once, as well as grabbing all the overtime he could. I was the kid from all those 80's teen comedies, the lower middle class child going to private school. Though, in real life, not one person ever gave me a hard time or looked down on me because I was not rich. (And one of my class mates, and closest friends in my teen years, stands to inherit a multi-billion dollar company known by name to every reader, so I definitely did not avoid criticism by avoiding the "rich kids". But it is still true that any friction I had at school was not due to social status or wealth, but due to the normal conflicts common to teens of all social strata.)
And that is it for my biography. It really isn't important, but as I compared my subject to my own circumstances, I realized I should describe my own life. In addition it may help to put off those who are sometimes tempted to argue I support the positions I do because I am a rich white guy. (At least most catch on that I am Jewish before accusing me of defending Christians because I am a Christian fundamentalist, though not all...)