Why rich kids hate their parents

I'm not convinced that most rich kids hate their parents, but there are presumably some who do. I also know many non-rich kids who don't get along with their parents. Franco Lombardo says many rich kids hate their parents in his new book, "The Great White Elephant: Why Rich Kids Hate Their Parents." Lombardo bases his claim on the failure of 70% of rich families to pass their wealth-making ability onto the next generation intact. This reminds me of a proverb:

The first generation in a family makes money (goes from rags to riches); the second generation holds or keeps the money; and the third generation squanders or loses the money (and so goes back to rags).
In this report by CNBC, he gives three reasons:
First, wealthy parents don't say "no" enough. "A child grows up with a sense that they get whatever they want," Lombardo says. "When they go out into the world and the world tells them 'no," they're angry. And they resent their parents." The second cause is time. Wealthy parents are often absent parents, and the kids feel abandoned. . . . The third reason is society , , , makes fun of rich kids. So parents tell their kids at an early age to hide their wealth. When the kids grow up, they feel that a big part of their identity has to remain hidden - and they blame their parents.
These reasons make some sense to me, but I like to see some numbers quantifying this supposed hate. I'd like to know who we "know" that rich kids hate the parents any more than non-rich kids hate their parents.

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How to make an island

Do you need to get away from it all? Do you crave an island of your own? Richie Sowa was in that position. Rather than find an island or buy one, he decided to make his own. The foundation of his island is consists of empty plastic water bottles. Sowa is now growing his own bananas, coconuts, spinach, almonds and tomatoes. In the video below, he says that he has everything he wants. Although his island is currently in Mexico, he plans to keep increasing the size of the island, until he sets out to sea.

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Growing income disparity and its consequences

Joseph Stiglitz has some shocking numbers:

Nowadays, these numbers show that the American dream is a myth. There is less equality of opportunity in the United States today than there is in Europe – or, indeed, in any advanced industrial country for which there are data. This is one of the reasons that America has the highest level of inequality of any of the advanced countries – and its gap with the rest has been widening. In the “recovery” of 2009-2010, the top 1% of US income earners captured 93% of the income growth. Other inequality indicators – like wealth, health, and life expectancy – are as bad or even worse. The clear trend is one of concentration of income and wealth at the top, the hollowing out of the middle, and increasing poverty at the bottom.
This is troubling, but not merely for a sense of mathematical equality or even gut level justice. This is bad news because income disparity hurts people in predictable and demonstrable ways.

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Dad performs sting operation to catch teachers bullying his 10-year old autistic boy

This dad of a ten-year old autistic boy wired up the boy to see how his teachers were treating him. The results were shocking, and he now rightfully wants the school to fire all the teachers who heaped abuse on his son. I forced myself to watch and listen to the tape recordings. It makes me wonder how many other vulnerable people (autistic kids, mentally retarded kids, people in nursing homes) are abused. I couldn't blame other people who want to do these sorts of sting operations. Warning: in many states such as Illinois, these one-party consent stings would be illegal.

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How to buy happiness

Michael Norton points to the difficulties of winning the lottery, then suggests that there are ways to use money to buy happiness. One trick is to spend money on others, especially others with significant needs. His conclusion: "If you think money can't buy happiness, you're not spending it right."

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