"Generational wealth."

It's a concept that feels, "European," in nature, however, 250 years into American independence this ideal of, "generational wealth," is now becoming an American ideal, as well. Yet, in previous centuries much of what inheritance has become today would be called, "succession." Whereby, the individual accumulation of assets prior to digitized banking and credit systems of the 21st century... used to require a more PHYSICAL PRESENCE for successful, "inheritance."

Nevertheless, as our economy evolves from decade to decade... today's article is a personal reflection upon the topic of GENERATIONAL WEALTH along with a story about my Father's career in contrast to my own career, thus far.

Where to begin?

Gustav and I believe Maggie Larsen, in Muskegon, Michigan,
around the year 1872.

In 1872, my Father's side of my family immigrated to Muskegon, Michigan from Sweden. Now, to put that into context... the state of Michigan became an official member of the United States in 1837, 45 years prior. But, to further put that into context a majority of African American's were brought over to America between 1720 and 1780. Nevertheless, my family has been in Michigan since virtually the conception of the state of Michigan, though, our family did not have any direct involvement in the Civil War, Revolutionary War or Canadian border disputes (*which I'll get to later, as well).

Nevertheless, my family immigrated to Michigan in the 1870's and my Grand-Father grew up in Detroit as a blue collar factory worker throughout the 1940's, 50's and 60's. In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that in some ways... our family is one of the first/founding families in the state of Michigan, since Michigan fell under European occupation in 1776. Nevertheless; prior to this time... I can safely assume that my family had spent several centuries in England (*more than likely London), Sweden, Germany, Italy and Greece throughout our lineage and possibly even Egypt before that, in the nature of our planet's history of, "Western Diaspora."

But in certainty, "the Larsen family," was in Michigan in 1872, as evidenced by photography. Nevertheless, after that time my Grandfather worked for the auto companies in Detroit and for the last 150 years of this country's 250 year existence, my family has paid taxes. Furthermore, after my Grandfather worked to build Detroit's auto industry he was laid off 4 years before receiving his pension and my Grandmother took a job further contributing to American society, working with the F.B.I. as a, "phone relay-er," back when we needed those sorts of things.

Now to continue my family legacy on my Father's side... my Father served in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1973, 1 year after the end of the Vietnam War, in what many deem to be one of the most, "hot," political moments in American history. So to be clear, after immigrating to Michigan near that state's conception, my Grandfather helped to build the auto industry during it's conception and then my Dad served in the military shortly after the Vietnam War.

So my family had meager beginnings filled with church-going, blue collar events and an overall, "Michigan mentality," for most of the 1900's but when does that change? And it did change, after my Father, born in 1953... completed the Marine Corps in 1977 and then completed his college degree at Western Michigan University in 1983, only to find a very lucrative, "sales position," at an IBM computer store in 1985. Where whether by chance or by fate, by positioning or by desire, by charm or by race, by discipline or by folly, my Father was given a sales position selling, "personal computers," at the dawn of, "the computer age," and for 2000$ a-piece, someone could purchase that 1980's machine equipped with an un-Earthly new product called, "DOS 1."

And I still remember him tinkering with the, "black screen," on the early operating system(s). Nevertheless, he never did learn much in the way of software... past the accounting spreadsheets, however, the item sold well in the 1980's and after a couple of good years in sales, he and his partner purchased their own, "Inacomp store," a, "personal computer store," in 1986. And at that time, his yearly income looked something like this;

Yet, this was followed up with a career change where he then founded a, "floatation spa company," that he founded in 1993 and that he patented and tried to market, which is now semi-popular in LA, ironically. However, after 1992 he left the computer store and his sales numbers with the floatation spa's were much less profitable than his computer store was.

But... let me further put this into perspective by saying that, "this man has a 900 chess rating on Chess.com, which is in the bottom 25%."

Furthermore, this same human being, later invested a bulk of this money into said, "floatation spa company," and failed to create a profit basically ever again, in future business endeavors. However, that run from 1985-1992 was basically like if someone had, "owned a Best Buy," in modern times, at a profitable location.

In terms of modern equivalency.

Nevertheless, today things are much more corporate and I don't even think that a sales staff-member could earn their way into ownership in such a short amount of time, today. However, that's what happened in 1985 and, "however you want to slice it," that experience was initially shocking for my family in a number of ways, especially witnessing someone with so very little class, elevated and praised financially.

Now this is where things take a bit of a mild turn though, because, at this juncture, maybe other more wealthy aristocrats are thinking it... but where does a position in leadership come from? Does it come from longevity? Does it come from paying taxes? Does it come from building larger companies like Ford or GM? Does your, "big break," present itself at the grass roots level? Or does it come solely from inherited proprietorship?

And those equations of social transcendence seem to lay somewhere between acquiring, "respect," and acquiring, "power," in America today.

Yet, "financial equivalency," is almost a matter of the federal government these days, particularly as, "econommic fairness," and generational transcendence... seems like a never ending hot button topic in the modern age. And where does my family stand in 1995 with both society and the federal government? Doing well? And yet, so it seems... this is where the story changes. So upon, "upper-class transcendence," at this point my Father has no other option but to throw his life away and spiral down a dark path of alcoholism and deep seeded insecurity.

Now at this point, around 1995, my Father equipped with our family name shining like un-touched credit... files a, "law suit," demeaning himself to the whole world's delight as an, "alcoholic," (*who everybody already knew couldn't handle 2m+ dollars) and he requested 5,000$ monthly compensation for alcohol induced self deprecation/disability in 1995. And this is a true story.

And he wins the law suit! Disabled! Alcoholism...

And I don't know who he sued or exactly the specifics surrounding the case, however, I do know that in the 1990's there was a brief period of time where, "alcoholism," became something that you could essentially sue over and claim as a disability, I believe. Where somehow, my Father won a law-suit claiming that he had an, "alcoholism based disability," which incapacitated his ability to earn and required a 5,000$ monthly re-imbursement.

And then in 1996, he took that 5,000$ monthly policy, insurance policy? Law suit? Whatever it was... and he cashed it in, in bulk, for 156k dollars and then he proceeded to invest that 150k into his, "floatation spa company," as well.

Although, to be fair, at this time... he was on the cover of a semi-popular magazine called HAMMACHER SCHLEMER, an inventor's magazine with, "new aged gadgets," where he obtained a cover story with his, "floatation tank/spa," in 1996.

And what a cool guy? And he got to meet Wayne Fontes (*Lions coach), Dennis Rodman, Billy Blanks and all sorts of people back then. Nevertheless, he wins a settlement for 150k dollars and he invests it into his floatation spa company and he gets things going a little bit again.

There-after, however... now at the age of 43... my Dad starts panicking, ditches his dream of becoming a big, "Whirlpool guy," and ironically the invention is now semi-popular in LA, today. Where I guess today it's called, "salt water float tank therapy."

However, at this point he quits the floatation spa business, he fails to replicate the success of his once glorious computer store and he then gets into Real Estate.

And this is again, where I just scratch my head...

So then his Real Estate career starts off with a handful of very legitimate deals. He meets with some old connections, he buys some, "call lists," and he sets up an office in the basement where he then starts a Real Estate company called, "Quest Financial," around 2000.

Whereby, initially this works out terrifically and the company does some deals here and there... 3% on a sale, 3% on a listing and there was some initial success in his transition to becoming a certified, Real Estate salesmen. However, at this point the industry kind of balloons and there's recession talks again and things get a little slimier and then home values/appraisal's go up and down and then the entire housing market starts to massively fluctuate up and down, nation-wide.

So, at this point, Father... with a still somewhat CLEAN SHEET... in the way of our FAMILY NAME, "LARSEN," discovers that he can make a little more money, somewhat unethically. And it's at this point around 2002... that he begins taking advantage of the fluctuating, "Detroit property market," which has been riddled with crime since the 1960's making each neighborhood individually difficult to value in terms of quality of living. And he takes the, "poverty situation in Detroit," and he capitalizes on it by purchasing 10-20 homes in Detroit, along with several business partners and then appraising them for 100-120k dollars a-piece after purchasing them for 10-30k dollars a-piece. Where then after appraising the homes for 4x there purchase price, his company could then claim that the neighborhood's crime rate's had, "improved," making the home's more desirable, thus allowing my Father to BORROW 90% of the newly appraised value or 3x his initial investment, "for renovations."

Whereby, at this point the money was often used for renovations... but a large sum of it was also used for his personal expenses; 2 cars, an 1800 square foot home, a cat, trips to South America, etc etc.

And the way that he borrowed the money to purchase these home's initially... was by, "pumping his personal and business credit scores," by simply moving his money in and out of his LLC, to and from his personal accounts and back and forth again, in different increments of cash and then claiming those deposits as, "income." (*Which is blatent fraud that he committed, in my opinion, today.)

So he'd take 6,304$ from his LLC account and put in 2,042$ of an initial 10,000$. Then he'd take out 2,843$ and put in 1,024$ and then leave 4,000$ and 1,000$ or something of that nature and he would just keep moving the money in and out of his different accounts for freshly acquired, "deposit slips," to add to his personal and business credit through claimed income. Then he'd come back to the bank and put in 1,400$ of that SAME MONEY and take out 800$ of THAT SAME MONEY from the same 2 accounts and shift the money from his business accounts back and forth into his personal accounts, each time claiming that this SAME MONEY was NEW INCOME on his W2's / business credit report. So by essentially, "PUMPING HIS CREDIT SCORE," by moving money back and forth and claiming those deposits as income... he gave himself perfect personal and business credit and that gave him the ability to borrow as much money as he needed in, "flipping," these homes. Now, I consider this tactic to be, "fraud," however, as an LLC owner myself... I can attest that money does go back and forth and without proper checks and balances, I find that the bank is more at fault than not, for not further researching my Dad's income at that time.

But my Dad had a 720 credit score and he could put the home's in his partner's name(s) and then they would get their favorite, "appraiser," to give them a favorable evaluation of the home's value and then they'd, "refinance," the mortgage for the home's 90% value and claim the renovation money as profits and they did this for 30-50 homes and claimed over 3-5m dollars in loans, as profits, around 2001. Then they'd take a majority of that loan money as, "profit," and put some amount of that back into renovations to cover their trail but ultimately they would fail to make the payments and allow the bank(s) to foreclose.

And here's my next question, "is that fraud?" And I think that it is! Whereby, in my opinion this should be a jail-able offense! Now... my Dad is 71 years old today, however, this is incredulous in terms of macro-economics! And white collar crime, is what it is! Where even I, as a beneficiary, despise this type of business! But that brings me back to this concept of, "generational wealth," where no family ascends without wtinessing successes and failures.

However, up until this point, around 2003... my family had a spot-less family history with a near FOUNDING privilege. Yea, I said it, "privilege," in the state of Michigan. However, does 1 family member's financial malfeasance sully an entire family's legacy? It surely does and it's unfortunate to say that this man who calls himself my Father, has now filed bankruptcy on over 3 million dollars in corporate debt, for which he will never re-pay, mostly stemming from Real Estate deals done between 2000-2005.

But how much of that fraud was his fault? And how much of that fraud was committed despite full knowledge of it both on Wall Street and within the federal government? He didn't really get away with that? Did he? And furthermore, after his, "alcoholism lawsuit," in the 1990's, why was this man consistently obtaining 20,000-100,000$ payments, routinely... from 1985-2005?

And furthermore... was that money all for selling computers? Or for his disabilities? Or was the federal government selling my future today and lining our parent's pockets back then? I wonder today... and in particular with the added motivation that many of our parent's feel even more entitled than I do, to live in their current regions. Whereby, did the government pay everybody in NYC and LA to allow them to stay in their home state's despite countless waves of immigration? Is that what happened back then? Or is that what's going on today? And what about Greece and the UK? And was that political disagreement REALLY the source of my Father's success early on?

Or was it another issue at the heart of my Father's success? And I honestly wonder? And for a number of different reasons but say that I was casted as a child actor in 1995... or what if Whirlpool had bought my Dad's spa company? Then he might've made 100m and not just 2-3 million. So did the government elect to pay my Father for his bad business dealings on purpose, to spite our families success later on? Which is one theory that I have, also. #FakeNews

Nevertheless, let's compare that to my career... where since college, despite not enlisting in a war-time military, I've personally earned on average 21,000$ / per year, from 2010-2023, working mostly manual labor positions and boasting a Chess.com rating of nearly 1400, which is in the top 5% on Chess.com and 500 points better than my Father.

Also, I own a SOFTWARE COMPANY called ArtificialintelligenceProject.com and while often times, I see other companies elevated in our economy, sometimes with extravagant sums of money for technological achievements... I wonder now... why my company has thus far failed to heed recognition? Whereby, much like this blog itself, CiviliansNews.com, today, I also wonder how much NEPOTISM plays a role in financial transcendence? And how much money is a blog like CiviliansNews.com worth? Or an Ai start-up like ArtificialintelligenceProject.com if NOT owned by a Harvard aristocrat, with connections to similar corporate entities?

Whereby, how much did nepotism play a role in my Dad's success? Particularly with my Grandfather being laid off by the auto-makers in the 1960's and then my Father falling into seemingly random success in the 1980's? How much of that was luck? After the Marine Corps? And how much of that was by design? Was my family going to work for Ford forever? And when does it end?

And then today, I wonder, "how much of my Father's success is now a burden to me?"

Whereby, his 2.5m in illegally acquired assets have pinned blame on me and shamed our family claims. Whereby, a Senate seat or Governor-ship, could've been attainable, if we'd continued to serve in the military and continued to honor our family legacy. Yet, that can now be casted into eternal self-doubt with my Father's economic misdeeds.

Nevertheless; how many other companies in America today... get away with similar economic mis-deeds? Filing massive bankruptcies on, "fraudulently acquired," assets? And then sometimes passing those fraudulent assets down to their kids! To which, now I can proudly say that I was only the beneficiary of approximately 100,000$ during my Dad's entire career and I will inherit none of those fraudulently acquired assets.

Whereby, today, we now have a massive Civil Rights push, primarily based on WHITE GUILT and I can't help but remember the massive amounts of money that my Dad was SEEMINGLY GIVEN in the 1980's, 1990's and 2000's... but was that by design? Paving the way for the nepotism and civil rights push that we're all experiencing today?

And am I to feel guilty for that 2.5 million dollars of, "success?" Of which I maybe saw 100,000$ from birth until present day. Whereby, the whole thing feels somewhat ironic today, as I routinely find myself now led to believe that I deserve to be treated as somewhat irrelevant due to classism from the past, when I stand in full agreement that people like my Father committed fraud, at some level and perhaps countless times in the past.

In fact, one of my Father's business partners was tried by the Department Of Justice (DOJ) and served 2 years in a federal prison, whereas, my Father avoided criminal charges due to a heart failure in 2005, which allowed him to file for bankruptcy. But how did this legend continue his career after that? Well, he then went on to borrow 250k dollars more in student loans from 2008-2013, in obtaining his Masters degree at Notre Dame University, at the age of 64, right as I graduated college.

Whereby, again, he borrowed 250k dollars more, thereafter, going back to school... and borrowing again in his 60's and it was at that point, when I got the vibe that the federal government was fully aware of his shady business dealings and somewhat supported him as a businessman, no different than some of NY's wealthiest Real Estate tycoons.

Where again, it became clear to me at that point that there was more to this after my Dad followed me to college and borrowed 250k dollars more between 2008-2013 and particularly in terms of my family name, our place in society, 100 years worth of our families taxes and the level of POWER that some NEPOTISM conveys within our society.

To which I stand eerily objective, whereby, I more often find myself to be the victim of NEPOTISM in the Ai/music/journalism fields, today. Whereas, other people seemingly now remind me of my Father with their, "happy go lucky success," compared to my business which is often times more deserving of success. Or in other words, "the NY Times staff writers often remind me of my Father when they're complaining about money and making 150k a year versus me making 0$ a year for CiviliansNews.com, today."

And to the extent that I wonder if my Dad was paid pre-emptively by the upper class, on purpose, now forcing a delay in my success 15 years later... #FakeNews? Whereby, there's definitely a lack of empathy for me in business... stemming from my Dad getting away with said, "fraud," in the 1980's, 1990's and 2000's.

But also, "there is no punishment without guilt," and as I build my own small business today, I now wonder if my time will ever come?

ArtificialIntelligenceProject.com
BilliamsWorld.com
MyRunningCalendar.com

But to conclude...

In 1986, my Dad bought Doug English's home in Birmingham, Michigan and around this time, fresh out of the Marine Corps, my Father lifted weights 300 days a year, sometimes 350. So he was fairly strong, particularly back then, whereas common standards in weight lifting have since risen. However, he purchased Doug English's home just outside of Detroit in 1987 and Doug played for the Detroit Lions.

But was that housing purchase due to systematic forces? Or rather, was it a coincidence that my Dad, who trained like an athlete, bought that home in 1987?

Or was it by a sheer coincidence that someone who trained, with a similar discipline, could afford that home in 1986?

Whereby, I now wonder about the circumstances of my family lineage in America today... as well as my family lineage back in England, where I surely have some history as well and what are the outcomes of those roots? Will the government find ways to pay my Father but not me? And how do they decide who ascends to the upper class? And when?

And my Dad never, "got away," with anything. Whereby, he only punished himself with fraudulent success and he set me back in the eyes of my peers. Furthermore, the government knew what he did and how he did it, just like they knew that his initial, "computer sales salary," was exorbitant for the first time in my families history, in 1985.

But was all of that money earned? By today's standards, "no." And was that 1985 money the same as today's money? Definitely not. Where now I wonder... "was our society sold off?" Was my Dad paid for his work or for the work of my Grandfather before him? (*My Grandfather was laid off by the auto-makers in his 20th year of service around 1960.) Or was my Dad paid for my work, which is now being discredited, today? Possibly in an attempt to pre-emptively tarnish my name and make room in the upper class for nepotism like Rand Paul, Shiloh Pitt and Jaden Smith while brushing my work under the rug. And why am I, "fake news?" And with my Father's generation being paid 20-50k dollar sums of money on a much more frequent basis, I wonder if those sums of money were even for his sales jobs and alcoholism disability... or if they were secret payment's for a disintegration of the American way of life, entirely!?

And I meet a lot of successful people today, who do not own Ai start-ups like mine or pay dues like my family has, I know that.

And beyond that... where does my family stand, today? After my Father's fraud? Where does this country stand now, financially? After allowing my Father to continue to borrow, yet, call himself a, "die hard capitalist," not unlike several of our LEADERS in Washington, today!

And will that fraud/ entitlement/ baseless spending... that my Dad committed, after filing for over 2m+ in bankruptcy... cause a military conflict? And with the way that Washington signs off on that type of politics/finance, it wouldn't surprise me if the U.S. does end up in a war. Although, to be fair, I think that the; Russian's, Greek's and Brit's have deficit spent more.

-William Larsen, Civilians News founder