theemporer said:
Heronblade said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
It's not completely cut and dry, as many countries have actual class mobility. People can work hard and get ahead without being lucky in such circumstances.
Heronblade said:
Incorrect, while that was true a few centuries ago,the vast majority of millionaires and billionaires these days did not inherit their fortune.
Of course, that's false, but why let facts get in the way of a "haters gonna hate" speech?
Fine, you want facts?
In the United States, fewer than 30% of billionaires inherited any significant amount of wealth, drop the bar down to the millionaire level, and that value shrinks to 6%.
This trend is much the same for most places around the world, only being broken by billionaires in Europe and India,
Specifically from inheritance, yes, but those who are in rich families have greater opportunity to make money than others. They have access to better education, better health care, etc. and have the benefit of their family's connections (which rich people tend to have). Wealth is a consequence of opportunity. Sure, a person in a rich family will not be rich if they ignore their many opportunities, but a poor person will, in almost all cases, never see opportunity and will stay poor.
That's the case in the USA. Up here in Canada, your "better education and health care" points are moot, and connections in ANY country can be made by someone who is just friendly. I actually managed to impress
the head of Bioware in my grocery store job, and he said that he would totally hire me on the spot if I applied to Bioware with a good resume. That's a hell of a connection that I could have had if I had gone and applied in a couple of days (and possibly the one thing that's made the most people call me a damned liar, but I SWEAR it happened), but I didn't have the qualifications at the time. Shoot.
Connections can be made by anyone who figures out where the people to connect with are.
And as for poor people never seeing opportunity, well. I'M poor (I'm in school to remedy that), but I'm in the middle of a job that not only gives me shelter for four weeks, but pays me pretty well for the effort I have to put in (caretaker), I've joined an optional class that has a 98% rate of landing students meaningful and decent-paying jobs over the summer, and I've repaired computers for a few people, all of which is combining to make me less poor. A poor friend of mine is busy programming and designing sites and basic programs for his university to supplement his meager income. Meanwhile, my other poor friends are out drinking their guts out right around now.
Does it surprise you that there's not a big chance they'll get ahead? You have to act on the opportunities going by for them to benefit you. I know this is all anecdotal, but I see a lot of people who say "I never get opportunities", and then don't do anything proactive outside of school. To which I think "Well, if you're not planning on supplementing your resume with that programming job in our program's project club, then I'LL take that, thank you!"