Defending the idle rich?

David Brooks has argued repeatedly that Americans do not begrudge the rich. I’d qualify that statement a bit — during tough economic times, Americans will begrudge those who are born rich. My evidence? Consider the imminent onslaught of popular culture devoted to the idle rich. According to
Newsweek
:

Could anyone be this stupid? Thank heavens, yes. [Nicole] Richie (Lionel’s daughter) and [Paris] Hilton (the hotel heiress) are the stars of Fox’s “The Simple Life,” which like all TV shows steals its concept—in this case, it’s “Green Acres” with two real “celebutants” filling the stilettos of one Gabor. “The Simple Life” debuts in December, and it already looks like the next reality-TV phenom. By then, we’ll be well primed by a slew of rich people behaving badly. Later this month MTV will launch “Rich Girls,” which follows Tommy Hilfiger’s daughter, Ally, and her spoiled friends as they navigate high school from the back of a limo. And HBO will air a documentary called “Born Rich,” in which Ivanka Trump, Georgina Bloomberg, magazine heir S. I. Newhouse IV and others discuss the burdens of inherited wealth.

Maureen Ryan writes in the Chicago Tribune that there’s an excellent reason for this new-found attention:

Why do people watch reality TV, if not to judge others? Who’s easier to judge than someone who was born with millions? This time, “the twist” is that nobody has to win stacks of money — they just have to prove that having it doesn’t make them jerks. The fun part is, you and I get to be the jury. Passing judgment on the foibles of the rich is nothing new; since the Gilded Age, there’s been a whole subset of journalism devoted to exposing — or is it reveling in? — the lifestyles of the rich and richer. The fact that the economy is stuck in neutral and that good jobs are hard to find makes the overcompensated especially tempting targets for TV voyeurs. We get to both envy their megabucks lifestyles and judge the frivolity of them all at once. Paris Hilton in a pig pen? Bring it on, especially if she’s wearing Versace.

Another example: this faux Hilton sisters blog — at least, I think it’s a faux blog. These pop culture sneers do reveal a libertarian dilemma: to put it delicately, defending the right of the idle rich to inherit their wealth in its entirety is one of the knottier positions to advocate in public. This resentment of the inheriting class is particularly acute during a slow economy. It’s easy to defend property rights in the abstract. It’s harder to defend the property rights of those who are perceived to be dumb-ass dilettantes. Take me. Readers of this blog know that I think concerns about economic inequality are misplaced. However, whenever I see a promo for the Hilton sisters on television, I find myself reflexively muttering under my breath, “they’ll be the first ones up against the wall when the revolution comes.” [Even when they’re dressed like this?–ed. Bad, distracting editor!! Besides, they don’t hold a candle to my celebrity of choice.] Beyond the philosophical arguments in favor of property rights and against double taxation, are there pragmatic reasons to say that the sneering towards those who inherit vast sums of money is misplaced? Oddly enough, Timothy Noah provides a partial answer in a series of Chatterbox columns during the debate over the estate tax, posted here, here, here, and here. I say this is odd because Noah starts off saying:

Chatterbox won’t dispute that some people who inherit vast sums of wealth devote their lives to contemplation and philanthropy. But based on Chatterbox’s glimpses of the “I inherited so much money that I’ll never have to work” set, enlightened magnificos constitute a very small fraction, and are dwarfed by the number of head cases, drug addicts, and rustic dropouts.

However, as Noah dug deeper into the question, he found mixed evidence for this assertion. There is limited evidence that inherited wealth contributes to social and psychological dysfunction. However, Noah also quotes the following from The Millionaire Next Door:

On average, [parental] gift receivers donate significantly more to charity than do others in the same income categories. For example, gift receivers who have annual household incomes in the $100,000 category normally donate just under 6 percent of their annual incomes to charitable causes. The general population in this income category donates only about 3 percent. Gift receivers give in proportions that are much like those of households with annual incomes in the $200,000 to $400,000 bracket.

One final thought: after watching “Born Rich,” it was harder to sneer at these people. Of the 12 individuals in the “Born Rich” documentary, I saw one raging asshole, three or four obnoxious but potentially redeemable personalities, and seven or eight nice but slightly withdrawn individuals. Drag a random dozen people in off the street, I’m betting you get the same distribution. It’s true that the inheriting class has done nothing to “earn” their millions. But the people off the street haven’t either. There are valid arguments in favor of keeping an estate tax, and I’m not unsympathetic to all of them. However, part of me wonders if those sympathies are driven in part by our culture’s occasional tendency to ridicule the idle rich. Just a thought. UPDATE: Jay Drezner has some thoughts on this issue.