If you think about it "squandering" isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It could he rephrased as "Lord Ben the 8th redistributed the families wealth to many other citizens, resulting in the family being reduced to the status of a regular family."
In other words its not like the heirs literally piled up all the money and burned it (removed it from the economy). Rather its used in the context that they spent it on goods and services, which in turn were supplied by others.
A fancy yacht purchase keeps boat builders employed (and a very diverse supply chain) then needs a crew, moorings, helicopter pilot, and so on.
Wealth is not a bad thing, spending wealth is not a bad thing, its the hoarding of wealth, and in some cases the way it was obtained, which are bad.
Of course when spent on social issues, aka politics, whether you consider it well or badly spent depends on your politics.
This is my issue with "trickle down" economics. It's only a trickle. If the rich people just swanned around and actually spent down their wealth then the rest of us would be better off.
It could he rephrased as "Lord Ben the 8th redistributed the families wealth to many other citizens, resulting in the family being reduced to the status of a regular family."
In other words its not like the heirs literally piled up all the money and burned it (removed it from the economy). Rather its used in the context that they spent it on goods and services, which in turn were supplied by others.
A fancy yacht purchase keeps boat builders employed (and a very diverse supply chain) then needs a crew, moorings, helicopter pilot, and so on.
Wealth is not a bad thing, spending wealth is not a bad thing, its the hoarding of wealth, and in some cases the way it was obtained, which are bad.
Of course when spent on social issues, aka politics, whether you consider it well or badly spent depends on your politics.