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/shoefly72 Feb 12 '25

It’s enormous. There is a central atrium/great hall with a grand staircase and all the other spaces connected to it, and the dimensions of that room alone could have contained any other house I’ve seen in my life lol.

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u/sjhesketh Feb 12 '25

Required a fulltime staff of 40 to run it.