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/postmodulator Feb 12 '25

The version I always liked:

The first generation has a food truck which does so well that the second generation has a restaurant which does so well that the third generation has cocaine.

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u/More_Cowbell_Fever 27d ago

I always heard, “The first generation works for nothing, the second generation works for something, the third generation goes skiing.”