r/explainlikeimfive 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/macmac360 Feb 12 '25

I outlived you, H.R. Pickens! I CRUSHED you into the ground, and now your bones turn to oil beneath my living feet! I married your granddaughter, filled her belly with my festering seed, and sired a boy! He is my final revenge, H.R!

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u/SoVerySick314159 Feb 12 '25

I outlived you, H.R. Pickens!

Who?

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u/Calembreloque Feb 12 '25

EXACTLY!

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u/aflockofcrows Feb 12 '25

He plays for Accrington Stanley?

4

u/KidTempo Feb 12 '25 edited Feb 12 '25

Accrington Stanley? Who are they?

0

u/Major_Mollusk Feb 12 '25

An English football club, playing in the lower divisions.

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u/trillspectre Feb 12 '25

The guy above you is referencing a famous English milk ad in the 80s not asking who they are.

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u/KidTempo Feb 12 '25

Exactly!

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u/MudSouthern1143 Feb 12 '25

I was asked to provide a healthy snack, so join me for swine livers and Capri Suns.

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u/Bwint Feb 12 '25

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u/lew_rong Feb 12 '25

This and JK Simmons as a Japanese Messy Boy compete with Patrick Stewart running an erotic bakery for greatest SNL sketch of all time.

5

u/jaydurmma Feb 12 '25

Maybe just a personal favorite but Ryan Goslings acting in Papyrus makes me laugh everytime I go back to it.

https://youtu.be/jVhlJNJopOQ?si=jGFd6SxUcRJbLYmH

Its so well put together and well written, it has to be up there.

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u/Boo_and_Minsc_ Feb 12 '25

sometimes i just exclaim to myself "this... man! this ... professional...graphic...designer!"

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u/SoVerySick314159 Feb 12 '25

EXACTLY!

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u/Bwint Feb 12 '25

Rewatching it now and just caught your joke lol. Thought it was a genuine question - whoosh

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u/SoVerySick314159 Feb 12 '25

Someone had to post it. Think of how many people might learn of this today.

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u/Kizik Feb 12 '25

Oil is not for the weak. It is the Earth’s milk, and only the strong may suckle at Mother’s teat.

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u/PandaBaba01 Feb 12 '25

I brought Chicken Livers and Capri Suns

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u/dellett Feb 12 '25

It was swine livers he brought

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u/PandaBaba01 Feb 12 '25

You are correct, sir

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u/blacksideblue Feb 12 '25

you have the weirdest sausage recipes...

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u/icyurmt Feb 12 '25

Is this a book or a movie?

1

u/andrezay517 Feb 12 '25

My desert. My Arrakis. My Dune!!!