No more cigars, is that humor? LOL

[ggiese]

You need to reread the entire thread, but let me paraphrase.

gg said that rich people were rich because they had some innate ability to make money, and I said that that was a pile of bs. Most rich people are rich because they had the advantage of social status and wealth without really having to work for it.

Take a rich mans money and social connections away, and at the same time take someone from the opposite socioeconomic position and do the same. The ex-rich guy will be totally lost. And the other guy...just another day in paradise.

Oh poor, poor barry...

Ok - Let us paraphrase what was said in this thread...

• You said my grandfather's observations on redistribution of wealth (take it away from the rich - give it to the poor - yada yada) were "ignorant".
  
• Heftysmokes corrected me - my grandfather's theory should be properly attributed to J. Paul Getty.
  
• So - by default I suppose - you called Mr. Getty "ignorant".

...there's something about J. Paul Getty I just can't put my finger on... Hmmm... "self made"?

The latest "theory" on the table was that Bush is only "wealthy" because of his family's "wealth". He would not have been wealthy otherwise because he was too "dumb" to be wealthy because he couldn't go to college without his parents money?

[heftysmokes]

Oh poor, poor barry...

Ok - Let us paraphrase what was said in this thread...

• You said my grandfather's observations on redistribution of wealth (take it away from the rich - give it to the poor - yada yada) were "ignorant".
  
• Heftysmokes corrected me - my grandfather's theory should be properly attributed to J. Paul Getty.
  
• So - by default I suppose - you called Mr. Getty "ignorant".

...there's something about J. Paul Getty I just can't put my finger on... Hmmm... "self made"?

The latest "theory" on the table was that Bush is only "wealthy" because of his family's "wealth". He would not have been wealthy otherwise because he was too "dumb" to be wealthy because he couldn't go to college without his parents money?

Not entirely...the family was in the oil business and was doing well before J. Paul came along. J. Paul amassed a fortune through his own industry, but the foundation of that fortune was built on his family's money.


Edit to add:

From Wikipedia...

Getty wrote a very successful book entitled How to Be Rich. Note that it was not How to Get Rich. His oil business was handed to him by his father, who started the business.

Getty acknowledges this in his autobiography:

I enjoyed the advantage of being born into an already-wealthy family, and when I began my business career I was subsidized by my father. While I did make money—and quite a bit of it—on my own, I doubt if there would be a 'Getty Empire' today if I had not taken over my father's thriving oil business after his death. (Getty, 1976, pg.336).

[SmokinDVM]

Oh poor, poor barry...

Ok - Let us paraphrase what was said in this thread...

• You said my grandfather's observations on redistribution of wealth (take it away from the rich - give it to the poor - yada yada) were "ignorant".
  
• Heftysmokes corrected me - my grandfather's theory should be properly attributed to J. Paul Getty.
  
• So - by default I suppose - you called Mr. Getty "ignorant".

...there's something about J. Paul Getty I just can't put my finger on... Hmmm... "self made"?

The latest "theory" on the table was that Bush is only "wealthy" because of his family's "wealth". He would not have been wealthy otherwise because he was too "dumb" to be wealthy because he couldn't go to college without his parents money?

I knew there would be those here too ignorant to understand a simple fact.
Getty a self made man
And I'd bet none of those billionaires on forbes list had help from any family money or name either.