Ultra-rich want their children to know the ropes

America was founded on principles of equality. These people have taken more than their share of the country's wealth, they live in a different world than most americans. In fact- they, like their bought and paid-for congressmembers with their special privileged state- are NOT Americans. Their money should be taken away from them, and contributed to the common good. No one needs to make more than 1,000,000 USD per year ( I would say a lot less, but the dollar aint worth nothin' no more). Being born in the USA is NOT enough to make you an American. Their are responsibilities. These people might want to teach their chiuldren about these things instead of trying to teach them to be less and less a citizen.

Danielius, I hate to make sweeping judgments of people over the internet, but, wow. You are clearly a naive, bitter, uneducated, working class person who is jealous of others' fortunes. I know capitalism has its faults. Namely, I consider a system that encourages the perpetuation of such concentrated, exorbitant wealth of some people who are unproductive (such as the kids in the story who don't want to go to school or learn to manage their money) to be a flawed system. However, you propose taking away someone's property because YOU feel they have not earned it or deserve it so that it can then be dispersed to people like YOU. This actually sounds like a much more fascist sentiment than those of the wealthy people who are quoted in the article. I take argument with several portions of your statement. First of all, America was not founded on equality as you implicitly define it. Sure, many of the first Americans left England for religious freedom, but in terms of equality, the founding fathers made up a privileged class of white, educated, property-owning males who—judging by the fact that they denied basic rights of citizenship to black men and women—wished to retain their privileged status in America as well. Sure, America’s founders set up a democracy (well, actually a republic), but I believe you are confusing the economic system with the political one. We Americans (yes, I am one, because I was born here!) have a capitalist economy with a democratic republican form of government. Granted, within our government, money usually equates to political power, but when and where in history hasn’t it? The point is that this country was founded by men who did not want equality per se, but instead wished to supplant one form of social hierarchy, that of aristocracy and inherited status, with a social structure that was based solely on wealth and ownership. This does encourage more egalitarian distribution of wealth and power, in theory, because a person’s social status is not proscribed from birth but could be earned through hard work and wealth building. Perhaps that is exactly what appealed to them about it. Anyone can work to build wealth, but only the aristocracy can ever be aristocracy (save a few opportune marriages for very attractive middle class women). Secondly, you state that these Americans have “taken” their wealth. Who have they taken from? Yes, the wealthy benefit from the power, connections and know-how that is passed on through generations of wealthy family members, but is that somehow against the capitalist code of ethics? No (mainly because Capitalism only has one maxim: incentive for survival prevails). Is it against any law that you know of? No. Is it unfair? Probably. Does it give already wealthy people an advantage in amassing even more wealth? Definitely. It appears to me that these people are simply better at playing the game and provided a greater head start at learning the rules of the game than most middle and lower class Americans. So, if I remember anything of those cheeky seventh grade quips, I have remembered this: Don’t hate the player. Hate the game. My third argument should not even be necessary, but I am going to continue out of sheer spite. Yes, being born in America does make you an American. I will repeat, for those of you who were born in Indiana and still aren’t sure: being born in America, even in Indiana, does make you an American. Look it up. If, and I may be making a stretch for you here, you are instead implying that being born an American does not necessarily make you a good American citizen, then I agree with you. In fact, there are throngs of naturalized American citizens who would put most of us to shame with their extensive knowledge of American history and good citizenship behavior. But if you are implying, as I suspect may be more likely the case, that anyone looking to amass or retain a fortune is somehow un-American, I wholeheartedly disagree. Where have you been over the last two hundred years? That is EXACTLY why many of the first settlers came to America. That is why hoards of unwashed hillbillies ran out to California looking for gold. And now we have Hollywood, thank you very much. The dream of amassing a fortune has completely infiltrated the modern rendition of the American Dream and, many would say, the love and desire for money is now a quintessential characteristic of Americans in general (at least that’s what everyone else thinks of us). I’m not saying I think it is moral or even healthy to obsess over money, but it is typically American in many ways, like it or not. Don’t get me wrong, I am not attempting to sway you to believe in the “American Dream” or plant the hope that you, too, through hard work and determination can someday become one of the top one percent of Americans who own nearly half of the country’s wealth. On the contrary, I believe this is probably not possible for most people (making it probably one of the weakest links in our economic and social structure). What I am trying to say is that your solution to the problem of extreme income inequality is both idiotic and dangerous. If you take wealth from those who have it, how are you any better for wanting it than they are for being more successful than you at attaining it? It appears by the poor grammar and lack of logical thought in your comment that you exhibit what I believe to be some of the most detrimental characteristics of Americans in any class: anti-intellectualism, dichotomous thinking, and blind hatred. Those character traits, my dear working-class friend, are exactly what will prevent you from ever gaining anything worth value.