Moses’ parents routinely paid off his debts

Evidence

When he handed it to them on the morning after the verdict, and they leafed through it—all the trial stories were on the inside pages now—and learned of the $22,000 judgment against their son, they groaned, and Bella Moses said, “Oh, he never earned a dollar in his life and now we’ll have to pay this.” The social worker recalls: “It was just assumed that they would pay it. They always paid all his debts.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 941

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks to Moses’ lifelong dependence on private wealth/family subsidy, echoed in the narrative that his power always rested on borrowed money and influence rather than earned legitimacy — connects to the earlier chapters on his family background and to the general theme of how privilege underwrites public power. — connects to: Young Moses disregarded finances and funded major work through his parents — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 450