Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by throwawaysea 1694 days ago
> in practice mean that only the rich could have children

Yes that is what it might mean, but that also seems like the right incentive to me. I would argue the rich are more deserving of having children in a world with constraints. Wealth is money accumulated by getting others to voluntarily give it to you in return for valuable goods or services. Therefore it is very literally a measure of value to society. It seems morally justified to let those who produce more value to have the privilege of raising children if we have to limit it. Also, I don’t think those parents would necessarily be too busy - most probably work 9-5 like anyone else.
1 comments
chmod775 1694 days ago
I don't even know where to begin, so instead I am going to pose a question that will hopefully lead to you re-evaluating your views:

How do you reconcile the concept of land ownership, inheritance, and rent-seeking with your world view?

link
throwawaysea 1694 days ago
Can you be more direct about your point instead of posing this question? I’m not sure what you’re getting at. If your point is that some people inherit wealth, then I see no problem with that both because the vast majority of the rich are self made and because it is completely valid for someone to work hard to leave their descendants with a better situation.
link
dane-pgp 1694 days ago
You literally said "Wealth is money accumulated by getting others to voluntarily give it to you in return for valuable goods or services.", so are you saying that being the child of a billionaire means you are providing them the valuable service of being an heir? It seems like the barrier to entry to providing that "service" is pretty high, and society might want to regulate that market to make it more efficient.

It's true that the majority of the rich are considered self-made[0] (although one in three are not) but it's also true that children of rich parents are at an advantage compared to children of poor parents, meaning people don't get an equal start in life. One study estimates that "adult children tend to earn another $0.33 for every dollar their parents earn".[1]

[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-riche...

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/parents-determine-child-succ...

link