What is the cure for affluenza?

A good ass kicking.

This is the third or fourth time you have used “affluenza” in a question, but you never really define it. It isn’t an affliction so much as a symptom of poor parenting.

When a child is raised in a manner in which they are taught to expect entitlement, the child can’t be blamed. But the child gets to realize the consequences of their actions when they are on their own.

Progressive taxation and estate taxes.

Is it really a disease? In any society, isn’t it the case that those on the top think they are entitled to certain privileges? All power corrupts.

My home remedy for affluenza is a nice healthy slice of humble pie. :)

@gorillapaws I agree with the progressive taxation. I disagree with the estate taxes. The monty in an estate has generally already been taxed once. (Of course anybody with an estate should also have a trust, which is protected up to a certain amount anyway).

@Caravanfan An estate tax is designed to prevent dynastic wealth and promote equality of opportunity. The Founding Fathers rejected aristocracy and favored an economic model based on individual merit and hard work. Estate taxes above some significant threshold ensure that inheritance will only traverse so many generations before the great grandchildren of the Koch brothers (as an example) will have to put in some work to earn their own fortunes. It also incentivizes wealthy people to spend their wealth rather than hoard it. That helps improve the velocity of money.

To add to @gorillapaws , a prime argument for estate taxes is the Walton family, who collectively own a huge chunk of Wal-Mart, but have none of Sam Walton’s acumen for business. They are involved in the business only to the extent that it doesn’t affect their billions. They have structured their wealth to avoid as many taxes as possible, without doing any real good with their money.

@gorillapaws I’m actually okay with estate taxes with the insanely wealthy. I have a problem with it when someone inherits, say, $750K from two parents who worked their asses off in a union job.

@Caravanfan I’m with you on that. Under something like $5M it should be tax-free IMO.

@gorillapaws I would go witih $10M but yeah.

@Caravanfan – Just curious, why would it matter if it was a union job or not?

It wouldn’t.