>Your perspective on this seems focused on the recipients - somehow in your view, mere accident of birth should not give them dibs on the family fortune.

Finally, I got through, Michael!

That's exactly my perspective.

If the American dream could be expressed in a phrase it would be that each citizen should have an equal chance to work as hard as possible and use all available talents to move forward.(Or some more eloquent variation of that)

And.. capitalism being what it is.. the devil take the hindmost.
I really like that idea.
It's ruthlessly Darwinian, but that's the way to get the best outcomes for all concerned (with a few controls on monopolies).

That's a great idea, unless you start a few people in the cradle with billions of dollars, grant them access to the best schools and give them the first shot at the best jobs in companies controlled by their families, regardless of their talents.
If you think about it, it's just a slight variation on the notion of the inherited monarchy, where you wound up with morons running countries..
It was the worst conceivable way to decide who would run a county then, and it's the worst possible way to decide who will control the wealth and power now.

Estate taxes are one way to level the playing field. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet gave it all to charity. I'm OK with that. If you have a better way, I'd love to hear it.

If you don't, you're trading a monarchy for an inherited plutocracy, and that's not what the framers or Adam Smith had in mind.

You're focusing on the person who made all the wealth.
That person is dead, Michael.
Sure, that person's descendants should get a reasonable amount, but not billions.
They need to go out and get jobs.
A new round begins and the most talented and most capable should have a chance to shine, just as that person who made all the money did.