Great little read from Bill G's dad.
[link|http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Our-Commonwealth-Accumulated-Fortunes/dp/0807047198|http://www.amazon.co...nes/dp/0807047198]
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The reality is, the concept of, "self made", is a myth. One third of the Fortune 400 inherited their super-wealth. A generation got their start with the GI-Bill that allowed college educations without the crushing debt a collegiate experience demands today. Few have not benefited from the public domain. The Hilton family readily explains that their Hilton Hotel empire could not exist outside an essentially peaceful nation, could not exist with the most basic infrastructures that their facilities need like highways, water, and on and on, state and federal programs funded by everyone, so why should not the same, "everyone", get something back, why should wealth become dynastic? Warren Buffet believes society over values what he does, and readily admits that in most countries, after 30 years his skills would yield him little.
The estate tax does not destroy wealth; no children of the wealthy are on bread lines the day after mom and dad pass away. The book does a brilliant job of debunking the myth that family farms are destroyed by estate taxes or that mom and pop businesses close because of the tax.
When the people that are the wealthiest, when those that control more money per person than the vast majority of the nation are telling you a tax should be kept or even increased, it's probably a good time to listen.