Horatio Alger died penniless, and was broke his entire life. He pretty much died of malnutrition, and couldn't afford basic medical care. So much for his propaganda stories he was paid to write by Wall Streeters. Mostly they just generate it by speculating or living off the interest. They don't speculate at all; they pay Congress to make sure their profits are guaranteed. They don't pay face value even for government bonds, more like 88% to 90% of face value, so they're getting 14%-18% interest tax free, at 3 to 6 month intervals, while Joe Smoe feels lucky when he gets 1.5% to 2% a year for his savings bonds and CD's. Life is grand at the top, when you can spring for the big short term T bills at $100K and up. Only idiots will save money at negative interest rates, which is why so few people bother to save; they're better off spending it now, before it loses even more to inflation.

Yes I realize that, tho our good friend Rockjockey has been brainwashed into the rag-to-riches, pull yourself up by your bootstraps Horatio Alger Rocky Balboa BS. Actually, I do not believe that at all. Just because someone's daddy, or granddaddy, etc., earned the money does not mean they do not have a right to that money. My view is someone earned that money, paid whatever taxes they had to on that money, and their heirs are paying taxes on whatever that money is currently earning. Seems many people think that the government should have first taken a lot more of the money when it was earned, and whatever was left when the person who earned it died. I often wonder if they would have the same view if they were the luck heirs. In other words, I believe our good friend EnSoledad suffers from class envy, as do many others.

Capitalism is alive and well around the world. The big question now is whether western liberal capitalism will continue to prevail, or will eastern authoritarian capitalism overtake it? The scary historical precedent is Nazi Germany which by similar means created an incredible economic "miracle", only to end up with military expansionism and eventually disastrous defeat because of it.