Rich Little 'Poor' Kids

villagevoice.com ^ | July 22nd, 2005 | by Anya Kamenetz

[tallhappy]

Not new, it's always been like this. The dilittante druggies and partiers don't want their street cred posing to be belied by their trust fund.

[paltz]

ping

[Irish Rose]

Very interesting article.

[peyton randolph]

Money can be a useful tool in good hands. In the hands of a spoiled kid, it is like handing him a loaded revolver to play Russian Roulette. He hasn't earned it. He can't appreciate it. Any wise use of the money will be the result of sheer dumb luck.

I see this where I live. Parents who raise trust fund babies not ready for the real world. Other parents who don't have the money try to keep up appearances of wealth...teaching their kids to go deep into debt to live like neighbors who have wealth. Both do a disservice to their families.

[Serb5150]

"I used to be very embarrassed of my privileges," says Andrew.

Let me help you. Make that check payable to Serb5150.

[bpjam]

"I tell them all that the remedy is to get a job and fend for yourself; it helps you find direction in life."

That will not only get your head straight, it will also make you a Republican!

[TC Rider]

The Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood, which studies the phenomenon of "emerging adulthood," found that parents provide $38,000 cash, on average, to their kids in years between age 18 and 34, a big increase over previous decades. In a way, we're all trust fund babies.

Somebody owes me $37,643 adjusted for inflation.

(interesting article, a generic profile of the young punks at your average lefty protest)

[retrokitten]

"I have many friends in the U.S. and abroad who are living off inheritances and aren't working, and some are very miserable," he says.

Well, welcome to adulthood, junior. There are plenty of us who are working and very miserable, too. I'm sure we would gladly switch places.

[rbg81]

Well, boo freaking hoo.

[motzman]

When I was young, Daddy bought me a brand new Mustang GT. Totaled it while running away from the cops (got a ticket for 143 in a 55, luckily no one was hurt)

Every car I've owned in the ensuing 15 or so years I've purchased myself; each is carefully maintained, sparkling clean, and never driven in an abusive manner.

Who'd thunk it?

[Gunslingr3]

"Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth—the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve that mind that cannot match it."

[qam1]

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.  

[somniferum]

"But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality--the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.

Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?

Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth--the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it." - Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)

[somniferum]

ahhhh beat me by a minute and a half ;)

[Clemenza]

Sounds like some of my former classmates.

I like to call them Trustafarians. Daddy pays for the $1,400 a month tenement room in Williamsburg so that they can play the role of the "starving bohemian." I swear that neighborhood should be bombed.

There is NO problem with having your parents help you out to get settled. After all, that's what families do. Its these POSERS who dabble from job to job and put on the boho attitude that piss me off.

[aposiopetic]

hunger has been removed from the equation with my sister and I.

So has grammar, evidently.

[durasell]

Same old, same old...

[Sonny M]

This article looks like it was written about a big chunk of my tenants.

Its weird seeing some of these really rich kids dressed like slobs and acting like they are poor while having absolutly no idea what poor is and having a disconnect while being ashamed of themselves.

These guys are also the typical jerks you'll meet in a bar, who are very quick to turn into snobs and show a sense of entitlement very fast (0-60, 2 seconds) when they don't get their way.

Yet, they want to try and play pretend and act according to what they believe the working class is only with "enlightenment", the arrogance they have is disgusting.

I know I shouldn't complain since so many folks like this are my tenants, but the attitude is revolting.

[Will_Zurmacht]

I feel so sorry for the poor dears...hehe.

I say this as an orphan from the trailer park who has been fending for himself since the ripe old age of 15.

While I could spend my days crying about my lot in life, it doesn't seem to be very productive. And yes, I have met this trust-fund baby mentality while in college and grad school, and it has convinced me that when I have kids and they get to college age, I should never give my children anything beyond love and support....

If they want a car, or an education, they can earn it just as I did. It may sound harsh, but I think it's for the best. Why I may have nearly starved, and there were some seriously depressing times, I learned some valuable lessons in life, and I met some wonderful, real, people. I wouldn't trade the friendships and experiences I have had for all of the money in the world....