Quote from: RE on May 05, 2025, 06:20 PMThere's a good series on Prime called The Gilded Age about how this worked in the late 1800s during the Robber Baron era.  It focuses on George Russell, a railroad and banking Tycoon and his family and the social circle in NYC and Newport in those years.  It was very much the same in the 70s when I was at Columbia.  I am sure it's the same today.
RE

I believe you. Not because you said it, but because it has been going on since the dawn of time I imagine. Humans form connections, social groups, and one of them can be the athletes in the high school, and the rich kids, and so on and so forth. And those who aren't in those groups try to get in, a tough game to play when it comes to billionaire family status I imagine.

So those who aren't in the popular kids club resent it.

So Elon knew people after he took his dads $32G and turned it into where he is today? I imagine there are plenty of others, but the social circle aspect is difficult to quantify, as people are still people, and a rich moron is still a rich moron, and isn't guarenteed an automatic in.

The Menendez brothers spring to mind.

Just because these social circles CAN benefit those of the right caliber mindset doesn't mean it is a given.

Your father was quite a titan of some sort, but he didn't appear to pass on his privileges to you, you mentioned he stiffed you on paying for college. That is undoubtedly as common a story as success.

Elon made it work. Not all of them do. But you don't go from $32G to where Elon is just by knowing people.