Spoiled rich teenager commits fraud - you gotta read this

[Sauron]

Originally Posted by TomJoe

Also, I don't think you can fault these kids for being born to parents who happen to be rich, and live in affluent neighborhoods.

Common misconception. No one is faulting the kids for their parents' wealth. Or how the parents choose to spend it.*

All we're saying is that the public schools should not become an enabler of wealth-based segregation and bastions of privilege. That is not the function of the schools, especially those in the Bellevue district.

IIRC, most millionaires in this day and age are "new money" which means they earned their lot in life by hard work and perseverence ... not by being born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Yep. Many millionaires do earn their own money, as opposed to being inheritors of it. I've seen several studies that suggest the best way to become a millionaire is to own your own business.

But merely pointing out that many people work to become millionaires, while true, obscures two key facts:

1. This society and its laws are optimized for wealthy people. The laws, tax codes, income magnification effect of inherited wealth, expropriation of land and opportunities to reneg on contracts, even the existence of Inc. vs. Ltd - they are all optimized for wealthy people. A current example of this is the bankruptcy law weaving its way through Congress. For lower to middle income people, you cannot shield items in a bankruptcy. But there is an exemption for wealthy people who want to create asset protection trusts:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/...ankruptcy.html

2. The role of luck. There is a large component to wealth in operation here - a component that conservatives and libertarians almost always try to downplay, because to acknowledge it would rob them of bragging rights. That component is pure dumb luck.

* I do fault how some people spend their money, but that's a discussion for another time.