The advatages of being born on third base

Standard 8. - Market failures occur when markets fail to allocate resources efficiently or meet other goals, and this often leads to government attempts to correct the problem.

Benchmark - 9.2.4.8.3 - Identilfy measures of income distribution wealth and poverty and explain how these affect, and are affected by, the economy; evaluate the effectiveness of, and incentives created by, government income redistribution programs.

          Born on Home Plate: 42%

“My name is Philip Anschutz. My net worth is $5.2 billion. In Forbes Magazine I am described as self- made, but I guess I have to admit that inheriting that $500 million oil and gas field sure helped me increase my wealth.”

 

 

Born on Third Base: 6%

“My name is Kenneth Feld. My net worth is $725 million and I inherited Ringling Brothers Circus when it was worth tens of millions. My team and I, who started out on third base, inherited substantial wealth in excess of $50 million or a large and prosperous company of our own.What do you think of the new name for our team,‘The Silver Spooners?’”

 

Born on Second Base: 7%

“My name is Donald Tyson and my net worth is $925 million. I inherited my father’s company Tyson Foods. Unlike those ‘Silver Spooners’ my team and I inherited less than $50 million, but at least we inherited over a measly ‘ol $1 million dollars or more.”

 

 

Born on First Base: 14%

“Hi, I’m Bill Gates. My net worth is $48 billion. I consider myself self-made. I made my own fortune and so did the other guys on my team who inherited less than $1 million. I mean sure, Mommy and Daddy were comfortable professionals.And so what if they did pay my way to Harvard until I dropped out. OK, most of my team members did get some money from their parents to start their own businesses.”

 

 

Born in the Batter’s Box: 31%

“I’m Wayne Huizenga and my net worth is $1.8 billion. I am here in the Batter’s Box because my parents did not have great wealth or own a business with more than a few employees. I actually made it to the list of wealthiest Americans on my own by buying a garbage truck and starting a waste-hauling company. With the money I made I was finally able to buy the 19-store Blockbuster video-rental chain and build it into a huge company. I hope more people can continue to do the same thing. I know it is tough when you have all those people out there trying to cheat.The game just doesn’t seem fair anymore.” 

    

      ASSIGNMENT: Click on the link below.  Watch the video explain how some people have asquired their wealth and what they do with their wealth.  What is expensive for some is nothing for others. 

http://www.teachingeconomics.org/content/staticpages/index.php?page=teaipm12

Questions:

1.  Which base (or batters box - not even on a base) do you think you are in right now?

2.  When does one stop worrying about providing for the future?

3.  If you had 600 million what is a possibility that they give could happen?

4.  Is concentration of wealth among a few a good thing?  Why or why not?

5.  What is the overall message that the author is trying to say?

 

 

This lesson adapted from -http://www.teachingeconomics.org/content/index.php?topic=thirdbase