More notes on Piketty's Capital | 16 comments (16 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: More notes on Piketty's Capital (none / 1)

He does mention that there is always a chance that a heir will dissipate the capital -otherwise, it would just keep concentrating. But whereas a war will dissipate everyone's capital, a wastrel heir will only dissipate one.

Besides, it may be a common theme in literature, but let's not overstate the ability of someone to squander immense wealth. Someone with €50 billions would be hard pressed to gamble them away.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Fri May 23rd, 2014 at 05:45:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: More notes on Piketty's Capital (none / 0)

Someone with €50 billions would be hard pressed to gamble them away.

True enough. But then as now, few would even get the opportunity. Entails then and trusts now. But I do recall a number of wealthy individuals who managed to turn great fortunes into small fortunes, but this was often associated with financial crises.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri May 23rd, 2014 at 07:45:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

More notes on Piketty's Capital | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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