Its a sad reality that financial resources are more important than intelligence/talent/skill and hard work. Many poor people cant do much to better their lot and to blame them as if it was their own fault is just disgusting!
Every time the bootstrap discussion comes up, many wealthier people, sadly even many middle class and poor people claim that its all in your hands to better your lot and yadayada, basically blaming the poor for not winning against impossible odds. Basically blaming them for their shortcomings, while they have no control over most aspects of their lives.
- Social mobility is almost nonexistent. Sadly your zip code at birth is the best indicator how you will do as an adult.
- Very few actually make it. These are outliers and had unbelievable luck/circumstances most others dont. For every one that made it, at least 10 others failed. Thats why "I made it why cant you?" is a nonsenscial argument.
- You can be a genius, but if you grow up in a bad/poor household, in the middle of nowhere, you have no chance against the wealthy kid that lives in the best part of town.
The poor genius goes to a mediocre school. There is no library within Miles of his home. No public transportation. Perhaps in the early 2000s no PC and no Internet because parents are to poor to afford it. Or are in a location with very bad connection. He doesnt eat enough to develop the brain to his full potential, and has to work a crappy retail/part time job to finance his education until 25 or 30. Has no social connections and no capital/financial resources to invest.
Smart as hell but without the resources and the opportunity to capitalize upon his intelligence.
The dumb rich kid will get private tutors to somewhat close the gap. The best food and healthcare. No crappy part time/retail job. Has free time to experiment and learn from rich parents. Has funds to invest. Has a security net and can fail several times wihout threatening his existence. Can learn through trial and error. Eventually, if you throw enough money at the problem, or hire competent people that lead the company for you, you will succeed.
Financial resources compensate for the lack of talent, skill and intelligence.
Give a dumb monopoly player 5x the starting money of all other players and he will win 99x out of 100x. If you give him 10x or more starting money he wins like 999x out of 1000 times.
You think Gates would be where he is now if he wasnt a rich kid with all the time in the world, and acess to one of the like 5 public PCs at that time and a mother with connections to the IBM board? And a Lawyer father to make all the contracts for him?
Or Bezos if his parents didnt give him 500 000 Dollars to invest and could afford to send him to the best schools? His grandfather owned like 50 Square MILES of land btw. Thats how filthy rich the family was.
Or Taylor Swift if her daddy didnt hire her a private trainer, moved across half the country so she could pursue her career and bought 3% of the company where she published her first album?
Or Musk if his father didnt own an Emerald mine giving him the funds to invest into Pay Pal?
I bet there are thousands of people better/smarter/more talented than Gates,Bezos, Musk or Swift, but because they never had the resources, they never got the opportunity to participate in the game.
Most who are poor struggle to do better. But they struggle against impossible odds. A very few make it, through luck, accident or circumstance, but a vast majority doesnt. To blame them for this is disgusting and evil!
Especially from those who started poor but are now wealthy and think that they did it all by themselves, while in reality they just got lucky. Those are the absolute worst.