'Most of Us Will Never Benefit From the Affirmative Action of Generational Wealth.'

[Judi Lynn]

Michelle Obama said the quiet part out loud.
October 15, 2024 by William Spivey

To understand their connection, two concepts must be clearly understood: Affirmative Action and Generational Wealth. In the minds of many, affirmative action is giving someone something they hadn’t earned because of the color of their ethnicity or gender. I’m afraid I have to disagree with that. I see it as a means to preserve wealth and power for the majority, establishing minimum quotas that are rarely exceeded and maintaining the status quo. But for this story, giving someone something they didn’t deserve works just fine.

Generational wealth is the passing down of assets from one generation to the next. It’s like beginning a game of Monopoly and already owning Boardwalk and Park Place, while others go directly to jail without passing Go and not collecting $200.

In America, there is no royalty and no titles to pass down. Some families made their money in questionable ways but have attained respectability. Families with the oldest money in the United States sold gunpowder and liquor. They grew rich off the shipping and sale of human beings. Some were railroad magnates, exploiting the labor of others to lay the tracks. The grandfather of a current presidential candidate made his money selling sex and liquor in a Canadian brothel. The beneficiaries of that family wealth didn’t earn their fortunes; they benefited from being born into a family where someone broke or exploited the rules.

Most of America’s wealth hasn’t been handed down for multiple generations. The middle class and upper middle class are relatively new and only a few generations old. Where once there were only the rich and the poor, with few in between, a large percentage of people are now acquiring enough wealth to pass down to the next generation in their family through the ownership of property and land.

Affirmative action and generational wealth are rarely linked, and when Michelle Obama mentioned them early in her speech at the 2024 Democratic Convention, I howled.

More:
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/most-of-us-will-never-benefit-from-the-affirmative-action-of-generational-wealth/

[Walleye]

1. I hate it when lower income people fall for the GOP anti "death taxes "

[MichMan]

3. The only way to prevent "giving someone something they didn't deserve" is an Inheritance tax of 100%

But for this story, giving someone something they didn’t deserve works just fine.

Generational wealth is the passing down of assets from one generation to the next. It’s like beginning a game of Monopoly and already owning Boardwalk and Park Place, while others go directly to jail without passing Go and not collecting $200.

The OP makes no distinction between someone leaving a modest savings account or home to their children vs. a uber wealthy family dynasty. Only that passing along assets from one generation to the next is bad.