Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Anderson Cooper: "I don't believe in inheriting money"

"So he's far from miffed that his famous heiress mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, has told him he doesn't stand to inherit her fortune. In fact, he sounds relieved."
"My mom's made clear to me that there's no trust fund," Anderson Cooper, 46, told Howard Stern on his radio show Monday. "There's none of that."

"Who has inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life? From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would've been so motivated."
That question begs some research, which would/could mean he is passing on a chance to be a pioneer... or something.
"My dad (Wyatt Emory Cooper) grew up really poor in Mississippi ... I paid attention to that because I thought that's a healthier thing to pay attention to than, like, some statue of a great-great-great-grandfather who has no connection to my life."
When Anderson Cooper "came out", he said in an email to Andrew Sullivan...
I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible.
I don't know. Maybe Cooper could have made the case for using that money to advance the tide of history. That's the bottom line, isn't it? 'Money makes the world go around', pulling and tugging the moon, advancing and retreating the tides. What do you think?

26 comments:

Unknown said...

I had no idea Anderson's mom was Gloria Vanderbilt.

I don't disagree with Cooper's statements about initiative killing and it being a curse. I do have a problem with death taxes, however. What ever anyone thinks about inheritance - pro or con, the government should NOT have the right to rummage through your things upon your death. Especially since the government has already taxed that money and that estate. The death tax is double jeopardy in regards to taxation.

I suspect Anderson Cooper, being a good lock-step marching-orders democrat, is hinting he agrees with the death tax and that the government should be first in line for estate confiscation.

Good point, Lem. Anderson could do amazing things with that money. (more lie key - instead, the government gets it. )

Unknown said...

More lie key? ah - "More likely"

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The tide is high... but I'm not even jumping on?

Am I the kind of girl/guy who gives up just like that?

Synova said...

Death taxes are wrong and bad... even if someone is filthy rich.

Taxes on that money has already been paid, possibly more than once, and the government shouldn't take a new chunk of it until and unless it goes through another iteration of some profit making enterprise. (And perhaps not even then, but we'll assume "income tax" for the purpose of my point.)

As for adult persons inheriting from their wealthy folks... Cooper benefited greatly from his parent's wealth already. It's fine if he gets that family money to continue whatever family enterprises are funded with it, but I would hope he's paying his own way and not sitting around waiting for his folks to die.

Even being on the poor end of the curve, who isn't paying their own rent or mortgage and buying their own groceries by the time they're in their 40s?

And if they are *not*... inheriting a million is not going to help them.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

@ Lem - oh NO oh oh oh.

Unknown said...

@ Synova-- Exactly.

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm sure that having a Vanderbilt for a mommy didn't help this guy out one bit.

I'm gathering he's gay. Oppressed too, I bet.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Only a republican, tea bagging mom would disinherit her gay like this... that all I'm saying ;)

ricpic said...

Does anyone seriously believe that, as Gloria Vanderbilt's son, Cooper wasn't looked at initially by TPTB as more equal than his career competition? What he did with that initial advantage is another matter. But to have that edge can be everything.

The Dude said...

He has bad jeans.

Shouting Thomas said...

In the mid-90, I encountered numerous poor little rich boys who were gay, and thus "oppressed."

They streamed into the offices, fully indoctrinated by the colleges and bearing a chip on their shoulders against guys like me who had factory worker moms and dads.

One of the most memorable was a guy who's father was a doctor who also owned several huge dairy farms in Vermont.

Shouting Thomas said...

TOP is an expert in finding ways to confer the grievances of the "oppressed" on rich white kids.

ricpic said...

Nothing like milking a cow on a minus 6 morning in Vermont.

deborah said...

Paglia would say that male gayness is usually (always?) due to parental influence. Over-bearing father or mother or over-nurturing mother or some such. I tend to think this is true in many, many cases.

Horrifyingly, Gloria's other son committed suicide by jumping from a balcony right in front of her.

Shouting Thomas said...

@deborah

The subject of mother/son incest is probably buried deeper than any other subject you want to discuss.

I've encountered this in several gay men friends. Not making any blanket statements.

We assume a standard of moral decency among women that is often misplaced.

Women are much more subtle and successful at concealing their depredations than men, and we respond much differently than we do to father/daughter incest.

Check out all the female teachers now being busted for sex with their male students.

Shouting Thomas said...

Back before lesbians joined the "We're just born this way!" chorus, I remember listening to and reading all the lesbian feminists declaring that

o Father incest and abuse was their reason for becoming lesbian

o They decided to become lesbian as a deliberate political statement

All this is now buried deep in the memory hole.

edutcher said...

Didn't Aesop say something about sour grapes?

And Shylock a thankless child?

deborah said...

Shout, it's sex all the way down.

Synova said...

I read the article to see if there was any other information or context in it, and no... wasn't.

So what I mean to say is what I still mean to say... there isn't a moral component to earned vs. inherited money. As for the motivation-killer aspect... How hard would you work if you couldn't leave your wealth as a heritage for your kids? Knowing that everything you built will be dissolved when you die is a motivation killer too.

The government shouldn't be taking a slice of inheritance in any case, though that's not what the article was about. It's not okay to steal from the rich because they're rich, and too often the "inheritance" isn't liquid... it's a farm or factory or equipment or some other material thing that the government wants their additional opportunity to take a slice out of, and the people hurt aren't rich.

Mitch H. said...

It's beyond my google-fu, but what's the odds on Anderson Cooper being on an array of Vanderbilt-associated non-profit and charity boards as a director?

There are all sorts of dirty tricks that the very old-money rich have for virtue-washing their filthy pelf.

Leland said...

Who has inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life?

Family farmers did this for generations, but not much anymore. Yet the same people who would ask such a question will also rail against corporate business destroying the mom and pop establishments.

Rabel said...

"I don't believe in inheriting money"

Anderson's kids are sure going to be disappointed.

Titus said...

He is mo and isn't going to have kids.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lydia said...

What fortune? He's not being disinherited, it's more that his mom has lost most of her money. She apparently spent her inheritance and then her partners in her jeans business did some funny stuff and the IRS took most of the money from that for back taxes. She even had to sell her homes and now lives in an apartment owned by Anderson.

Sounds like Anderson just wanted to tell a good story all about how inheritance is bad.