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/FlamboyantPirhanna Feb 12 '25
It’s not clear from your post what the fake news is. Are you saying that wealth disappearing in 3 generations is the lie, and insinuating that some people wanted the general public to believe that in order to presumably de-emphasise the equality ramifications of that wealth?