I often rant about the fact that a lot of the wealth that you see in colonial countries, and in the stock markets of these countries, is from colonial loot and plunder.

Robert Clive looted from India the present day equivalent of £54 million in the 18th century (thus becoming the then richest person in Europe). Apart from this, just this one individual took more Mughal artefacts than are in the possession of the Government of India's museums. These artefacts are housed not in any museum, but in a private residence called the Powis castle in the UK.

But where is the £54 million? Wikipedia is an interesting resource. Clive had nine children. I traced the eldest male descendents of the Clive family. Over eight generations, the eldest of the Clives have thrived. All of them were MPs, either by election or by virtue of them being Earls (whatever that means). Just one portion of the current Clive's wealth is worth £84 million. Imagine the collective wealth of all of Robert Clive's present day descendants, and then compare it to the poverty of his victims' descendants.

Capitalism requires the concentration of risk-friendly wealth in order to fund the rise of a Rockefeller or a Musk. A lot of that concentration, in the hands of people who never worked hard to earn it, has happened through rather bloody means.

(Consider this post a follow up to https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158638703457040)