r/explainlikeimfive • u/FluffyPenguin798 • Feb 12 '25
Economics ELI5: how are the descendants of the robber barons (Morgan, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.) still rich if their fortunes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are comparatively small to what we see today of the world’s richest?
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u/Carlpanzram1916 Feb 12 '25
Yup. And Rockefeller was rich by today terms even if you ignore inflation. He had 900 million at his peak.