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Comment by spaceflunky | Hacker News Reader

Call me crazy, but this also reminds me of our housing problems. Take for example the person who get an education, a good job, works hard, and saves up to buy house. Then when it comes time to buy, some kid with rich parents, whose done fuck-all with his life, swoops in and buys the house.

Rich people have a huge advantage in society, which I'm not opposed in theory, but I am opposed to it when rich people elbow out lower classes. It's weird when rich kids use their parents money to live a middle-class lifestyle on "easy mode" and simultaneously make it more difficult for actual middle-class people to live a middle-class life.

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It's exclusionary zoning laws that make it difficult for actual middle-class people to live in middle-class neighborhoods. The cost of very respectable new construction is approximately $120/sq. ft. in most regions of the country thanks to modular building technologies, but when the local zoning code prohibits the construction of new multi-family housing, it artificially inflates the cost of existing real-estate to potential middle-class home buyers, much to the benefit of the existing landowners who collectively passed the restrictive zoning ordinances.

The "kid" part is what gets me. I mean if you bust your ass and make a fortune then do what you want. Edge out those who weren't as successful. Strongest survive, etc.

But fuck the little assholes who just inherit that success by virtue of luck. If you didn't earn it you don't deserve it.

Ridiculous. As if all people who inherit money are useless shmucks with no abilities.

And where does one draw the line? Inheriting $100k? 500k? A million? Five million?

If you make "a fortune", wouldn't you want to pass it on to your kids eventually? Because I do.

Inherited wealth gives you an unearned advantage. Therefore, on average for any given slice of society, the least talented members will be the children of privilege. The more money you’ve been given the more likely your peers outclass you.

This is evident to most people, but surprisingly not obvious, in my experience, to the people most directly affected.

But what does it really mean to "earn it"? What if someone had richer parents who could provide better education? What if someone was diagnosed with cancer after finishing that education? Does a $10M/yr. CEO really "deserve" their fortune? Has he really "busted his ass" anymore than a janitorial worker who works 3 jobs to make ends meet? What about affirmative action? What role does "inheritance of genes" play? Luck plays a much greater role than many free-market, survival-of-the-fittest capitalists want to admit. And so why is it that luck in the form of health, talent, country of citizenship, physical attractiveness, etc. should be any less reason for envy (which is the real issue here) than the gift of money?

You could draw the line at $0. That's the usual edge case.

Certainly a large number of people with significant inherited wealth are useless. It is one of those things where there is ample anecdotal evidence and even presidential evidence. I know one people who denies this. My friend who inherited a bunch of wealth, like 20 million.

Being that wealthy doesn't mean you'll be happy or not struggle, but it makes a lot of things easier. There are a lot of people who can barely feed their kids, will they get the opportunity to achieve to their ability? Lot harder for them than for you.

Maybe an over simplified analogy better describes my point. It feels like there use to be three "neighborhoods" for people. The rich neighborhood for people that were wildly successful, the middle class neighborhood for those that did alright, and the poor neighborhood for those just getting their start or starting over.

Nowadays it feels like the rich still get their rich neighborhood, but now the middle-class neighborhood is for the children/families of the rich, and the poor neighborhood is for the middle class, and the poor just get to live in an RV on the streets.

I guess what's weird is that the rich weren't a middle class problem when they were off doing rich people things, but now that the rich are going after what little the middle class have, it's a problem.

There's no shortage of room for housing in the US in general. The only places where rich people would be displacing the middle class would be in the cores of urban centers.

We likely don't build enough housing, but that's different than it not being possible or affordable to do that given different policy.

You’re right. And I think the reason why rich people don’t “stay in their lane” is because we are limiting the supply which causes higher classes to go after resources traditionally reserved for lower classes.

Luck plays a much greater role than many free-market, survival-of-the-fittest capitalists want to admit. And so why is it that luck in the form of health, talent, country of citizenship, physical attractiveness, etc. should be any less reason for envy (which is the real issue here) than the gift of money?

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