The system is working as it’s supposed to. In the future, nobody will leave inheritances except very wealthy people, because they swallowed everybody else’s inheritance.
Honestly, this is exactly why inheritance should be taxed to hell and back.
I truly understand the idea of wanting to make sure your family is looked out for after you’re gone. However, if governments gave a shit, about making their country truly great and something to be admired by the rest of the world, they would put the well-being of all of their citizens first and foremost by creating a social safety net that would never leave your family destitute if something happened to you.
If I die there should be no concern of who will put food on the table, or make sure my family has access to healthcare or an education in any developed country that claims greatness. Especially not one producing the kind of disgustingly oblivious bottomless pit levels of wealth responsible for some of the most justifiably hated villains in history.
If only there was some system that could allow you to pump money and resources back into your country’s economy without quid pro quo private donations and business deals for public contracts…
Obviously this applies in particular to the U.S., but favoring policies that harm the many in order to help the wealthy few preserve the resources they have hoarded and obtained by exploiting others, seems to be spreading like an STD beyond the borders to many other countries that should clearly know better.
T.L.D.R.: Inheritance tax would mean people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump don’t exist. Likely Peter Thiel too, to a lesser extent, and there would be no need to worry about leaving your family a safety net because those taxes would go towards creating a safety net that ensures the basic needs of all citizens are taken care of.
However, it would be nice if regular parents and grandparents can leave their beloved possessions and assets to their offspring, and give them a little lift in the middle of their lives, and allow them to retire early, or start a business, or just grow their retirement. I would hate if the law evens the score with Oligarchs, at the expense of middle class and poor people losing out on one of the few, relatively small advantages they might get in their entire lives.
At the end, when he was out of money, and going to die anyway, and about to leave his wife and six kids broke, I’ll bet he wished he had ended it earlier.
You caught a downvote for that comment because some people don’t like confronting reality, but that’s literally what my late father-in-law told me on his deathbed. He had been battling cancer for about a year by that point, and was partially paralyzed around the six month mark after his vertebrae collapsed from it spreading to his bones. My wife was his constant in-home caregiver after that, while I took on a ton of overtime and freelance work to financially support both of us.
One day, I was over at his house taking care of him, because my wife needed a girl’s night for herself to just get away from things for a few moments. While I was feeding him, he broke down in tears and said he wished he had been hit by a bus instead, because at least then he would have had his dignity intact and would have been able to leave my wife some sort of inheritance. He died two days later.
I’ll never tell my wife about that conversation. She was already dealing with enough mental, emotional, and physical stress from the caregiving (and her own health issues, which the stress compounded), and I didn’t want to add to it. And now at this point, it’s better to just let sleeping dogs lie.
At least he was able to get his guilt off his chest, kind of like confessing to a priest. He probably chose to do that with you, instead of your wife, for the same reasons as yours.
Of course, but that’s you. HE would probably rather you remember him when he was healthier, not slowly dying ugly, and use the money to make his grandchildren’s lives better.
Either way, you will grieve his loss, but one way leaves his offspring better off. Most Dads know which choice they’d make, even if their loving children would disagree. Good dads have to make the tough choices for their family.
Life’s different with kids. I’d literally give up anything for an extra hour with my kids. I would also give up everything to give them a better life. It’s a complicated situation and people are dumbing it down as much as possible, and it’s a little unfair. It’s very easy to say what you’d do when it’s just you, but these fucking progeny put their hooks in you, I swear to God. They have made me into a person I never thought I would be, and I can guarantee if they said “Dad, five more minutes,” I’d do it.
None of this should even be a talking point. Dude should’ve had access to treatment regardless, and he shouldn’t have to worry about jeopardizing his kids next 20 years for their next 20 days. It’s gross. It makes me sad.
It reminds me of the Star Trek Universe, where replicator technology rendered money useless, since anyone could simply create anything they wanted from the replicator.
Want to have a game of catch? Replicate some broken in gloves and a ball, and go toss it around. When you’re done, you just feed it all back into the replicator to be turned into something else. Nobody really owns anything, they just replicate it as they need it, including food.
It was explicitly a reference to the “Sharing” Economy (Uber, AirBnB, Grubhub, etc) that would supposedly supplant the modern retail sector. So, less replicators and more endless piles of single-use plastics with your take out.
The system is working as it’s supposed to. In the future, nobody will leave inheritances except very wealthy people, because they swallowed everybody else’s inheritance.
Honestly, this is exactly why inheritance should be taxed to hell and back.
I truly understand the idea of wanting to make sure your family is looked out for after you’re gone. However, if governments gave a shit, about making their country truly great and something to be admired by the rest of the world, they would put the well-being of all of their citizens first and foremost by creating a social safety net that would never leave your family destitute if something happened to you.
If I die there should be no concern of who will put food on the table, or make sure my family has access to healthcare or an education in any developed country that claims greatness. Especially not one producing the kind of disgustingly oblivious bottomless pit levels of wealth responsible for some of the most justifiably hated villains in history.
If only there was some system that could allow you to pump money and resources back into your country’s economy without quid pro quo private donations and business deals for public contracts…
Obviously this applies in particular to the U.S., but favoring policies that harm the many in order to help the wealthy few preserve the resources they have hoarded and obtained by exploiting others, seems to be spreading like an STD beyond the borders to many other countries that should clearly know better.
Economic Inequality Seen as Major Challenge Around the World
It’s hard to say if it was ever really anything exclusive to the U.S. or if we just copied somebody else’s idea and super sized it.
The Richest Man in Germany Is Worth $44 Billion. The Source of His Family Fortune? The Nazis Know.
Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties is a 2022 book by Dutch historian David de Jong about German industrialists who profited from the government during the Nazi era.
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaire$ Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
T.L.D.R.: Inheritance tax would mean people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump don’t exist. Likely Peter Thiel too, to a lesser extent, and there would be no need to worry about leaving your family a safety net because those taxes would go towards creating a safety net that ensures the basic needs of all citizens are taken care of.
Valid, great post.
However, it would be nice if regular parents and grandparents can leave their beloved possessions and assets to their offspring, and give them a little lift in the middle of their lives, and allow them to retire early, or start a business, or just grow their retirement. I would hate if the law evens the score with Oligarchs, at the expense of middle class and poor people losing out on one of the few, relatively small advantages they might get in their entire lives.
Nah, I’ll just do a cost-benefit analysis whether I should get treatment or just fucking die.
At the end, when he was out of money, and going to die anyway, and about to leave his wife and six kids broke, I’ll bet he wished he had ended it earlier.
You caught a downvote for that comment because some people don’t like confronting reality, but that’s literally what my late father-in-law told me on his deathbed. He had been battling cancer for about a year by that point, and was partially paralyzed around the six month mark after his vertebrae collapsed from it spreading to his bones. My wife was his constant in-home caregiver after that, while I took on a ton of overtime and freelance work to financially support both of us.
One day, I was over at his house taking care of him, because my wife needed a girl’s night for herself to just get away from things for a few moments. While I was feeding him, he broke down in tears and said he wished he had been hit by a bus instead, because at least then he would have had his dignity intact and would have been able to leave my wife some sort of inheritance. He died two days later.
I’ll never tell my wife about that conversation. She was already dealing with enough mental, emotional, and physical stress from the caregiving (and her own health issues, which the stress compounded), and I didn’t want to add to it. And now at this point, it’s better to just let sleeping dogs lie.
Fuck cancer.
At least he was able to get his guilt off his chest, kind of like confessing to a priest. He probably chose to do that with you, instead of your wife, for the same reasons as yours.
If someone asked me “How much money would you pay to spend an extra year with your dad?” I don’t know if there’s an upper limit.
Of course, but that’s you. HE would probably rather you remember him when he was healthier, not slowly dying ugly, and use the money to make his grandchildren’s lives better.
Either way, you will grieve his loss, but one way leaves his offspring better off. Most Dads know which choice they’d make, even if their loving children would disagree. Good dads have to make the tough choices for their family.
Even if I could afford treatment, if it’s a guaranteed death sentence I’m booking a flight to a place with doctor assisted suicide.
Going through hell just so you can live a bit longer and suffer the whole time sounds dumb to me.
Life’s different with kids. I’d literally give up anything for an extra hour with my kids. I would also give up everything to give them a better life. It’s a complicated situation and people are dumbing it down as much as possible, and it’s a little unfair. It’s very easy to say what you’d do when it’s just you, but these fucking progeny put their hooks in you, I swear to God. They have made me into a person I never thought I would be, and I can guarantee if they said “Dad, five more minutes,” I’d do it.
None of this should even be a talking point. Dude should’ve had access to treatment regardless, and he shouldn’t have to worry about jeopardizing his kids next 20 years for their next 20 days. It’s gross. It makes me sad.
You’ll own nothing and be happy
It reminds me of the Star Trek Universe, where replicator technology rendered money useless, since anyone could simply create anything they wanted from the replicator.
Want to have a game of catch? Replicate some broken in gloves and a ball, and go toss it around. When you’re done, you just feed it all back into the replicator to be turned into something else. Nobody really owns anything, they just replicate it as they need it, including food.
It was explicitly a reference to the “Sharing” Economy (Uber, AirBnB, Grubhub, etc) that would supposedly supplant the modern retail sector. So, less replicators and more endless piles of single-use plastics with your take out.