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Originally Posted by Enoch Root
So if mom and dad work hard and save some money, you don't think they should be able to pass that on to their children? Are we going to eliminate all personal motivation from the system and share everything equally? Because if we are, please let me know so that I can retire tomorrow and stop working so hard.
Also, your premise that all wealth creates class division is just not as cut and dried as you are suggesting.
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Wealth itself doesn’t create generational class differences. The extent to which a child’s economic status in adulthood corresponds to their parents’ does.
That intergenerational ‘stickiness’ varies substantially by country. As I’ve noted, Canada has historically had more intergenerational mobility that the U.S. and UK. I consider that a good thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
First of all, anyone can be successful - the barriers to success are small. Yes, there are advantages to being wealthy, and yes, there are barriers from being poor, but everyone has some opportunity at success.
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That’s simply not true. If parental money and influence do little to improve the outcomes of children, then why do they spend so much time and money on schools, classes, programs, a house in the right neighbourhood, tuition, etc?
In fact, if you honestly believed bright and ambitious children will succeed no matter what, then you would not devote any resources to aiding your own children - they’ll either make it or not make it on their own, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Second, receiving that inheritance is not the automatic ticket to wealth building and class segregation that you are suggesting. Again, there are various informal studies that give a wide range of data, but the aggregate message is clear: people who receive an inheritance are often inclined to blow it, and the numbers for the 3rd generation (the grandkids), appear to be even worse. I have seen studies that suggest as many as 80% of inheritances are gone within 2 generations. Actual numbers are impossible to determine, but we can be confident that a significant number evaporate or largely evaporate.
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That may be so. But you don’t think a couple where each set of parents can kick in $100k towards a new house and a couple that has no support will have very different experiences on the property ladder? And that this will impact their own children in turn?
The argument boils down to
parental money doesn’t have much of an influence on generational wealth, but it’s absolutely vital I’m able to provide it anyway. And that doesn’t make any sense.