I think there has always been a high percentage of incredibly stupid people among the ultra wealthy.

Has something to do with the imbreeding of the royal blood lines.

But don't you think a lower percentage than today?

Today you can amass enormous wealth by hitting a baseball, acting, modeling, rapping, hitting the lottery, selling drugs, etc. Things that don't require genius.

Just wondering if there are more avenues to enormous wealth (not just being in the money but having super F U Money) than there were in the past, without having a great sense of intelligence.

I guess there were plenty of brutes in the past who achieved wealth and power in much the same way drug dealers and organized crime members do now.

And the super-rich may have had more offspring than they do now, and not all of them could have been geniuses. But royals would have stressed education among their kids more than, say, Shawn Kemp and Larry Johnson, no?

A few thoughts:

- You linked to freerepublic? That site is like the snake pit of the internet: nothing but venom.

- While I think baseball blows, in fairness to the Sox, it was only those two idiots acting obnoxious. The people in the red pullovers were just standing there looking ashamed. And I've seen just as bad from Yankee fans, in Yankee Stadium. Glass houses, homes, glass houses.

- Per your super-rich question: I think there are actually a lot more smart people who are super rich today than in the past. Think about it: people who were rich up until about the Industrial Revolution got rich because they were better at killing lots of people than their rivals, then they took all their stuff by force. Like you said, it was a lot like today's drug lords, except that there was nowhere on Earth you could go where you wouldn't be subject to the whims of some violent warrior asshole.

I will say that yes, the number of ways you can get rich certainly encompasses a lot of stupid-ass shit. Pro athlete? Cash Money rapper? Hilton heiress? Those are all dumb-ass people. But, the thing is that if you're dumb, there's a richness ceiling. Pro athletes are millionaires, but they're being paid by the team's owners, who are very smart guys who aren't just rich, but ultra-rich. You aren't going to see someone like Lil' Wayne get to that level.