Staid establishment publication The Economist goes on at some length about the distressing emergence of a durable American aristocracy based on the heritability of braaaaaaains. Because human evolution operates meaningfully over a span of a couple of generations, and is rapidly producing the New American Übermensch.
Uh, yeah. The aristocrats are intelligent? And well educated?*
Pull the other one, it's got bells on.
Meanwhile, it's left to the knuckle-draggers, e.g., here and especially here, to hint, in their subtle fashion, at the true heritable trait for success: insider social connections.
Yes, it's all very well that you can get an education at Harvard or Yale. But! You can also build up a social network while you're there. And, given that a degree in a soft subject (no math required, please!) from one of those two institutions has become a prerequisite for being taken seriously as a presidential candidate? That's the kind of social network that can make a big difference in your career, especially if you're basically a social animal and your parents taught you how to buy a suit**.
Then figure that if one or both of your parents attended a given university, you'll be given preference in admissions... especially if the ancestors have been making large donations to the alumni fund... and the opportunity to acquire the particular social connections needed to succeed in a crony-corporatist economy looks very heritable indeed.
The progeny of Davos are destined to rule the Universe not because they're particularly clever (they're not; any given one is easily outwitted) but because they form a closed group, don't regard anyone outside the group as being the same species as themselves, and give each other jobs in highly influential positions.
Throw in the ability to retire at 35 from the more lucrative positions (to go off and spend the rest of one's life doing something Socially Meaningful), and we end up with the New Silicon Valley decision-making class, which includes no one who was an actual adult during the Dot-Com Bubble 1.0. Hence, no lessons learned, and we get the same investment and planning mistakes writ larger.
But they all have the social connections. And that's what matters. At least, to the important people***.
* And the "grown-up alternative" for President is "another Clinton or yet another Bush", forsooth!
** Go to one of the approved tailors, and throw money at him.
*** "Many men of course became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural and nothing to be ashamed of because no one was really poor – at least no one worth speaking of."
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