Webmany wealthy americans are in politics today, making the kennedys’ fortune seem less noteworthy. By 2003, edward kennedy was just one of 40 millionaires in the u. s. Webpeople reconcile benefiting from ‘unearned’ inherited wealth and adhering to dominant principles of meritocracy. Only shapiro (2004) has examined this in real depth,. It is tempting to see meritocracy as a friend to equality. In hereditary aristocracies and caste societies, people’s fates are fixed by birth. Webthrough shrewd estate planning and the establishment of trusts, they have ensured that their wealth is not heavily diluted through inheritance taxes, safeguarding. Webnoted speakers address the cumulative impact that reconstruction, black laws, jim crow, modern day violence, discrimination added to divergent wealth trajectories and opportunities firmly rooted in the system of enslavement. Webusing the china health and retirement longitudinal study, we investigate household inheritances’ structural characteristics and their effects on wealth distribution. Webthis article documents how wealthy parents and wealth managers construct risky futures around inheritance, and their strategies to manage those risks through the.