Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
Hmmm.....not really.
One of the things is that Wealthy people often are lucky insofar as they tend to get a head start.
Bezos' family could afford to help fund his business, thats fortunate, my parents couldnt. I'm not saying thats the difference between blowing up rockets for fun and asking me if I 'want fries with that' but fortune can still be a factor.
A fascinating experiment was once done where College Students played Monopoly. One of the players by pure chance, a flip of a coin, was selected to start the game with twice as much money as the other players.
That player typically won and more often than not attributed that victory to their sheer superior Monopoly-playing skillz (<- yes with a 'z') as opposed to their starting with a huge advantage.
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I never said no one has a head start or unequal opportunities. In fact I've said the exact opposite in this thread and believe strongly in trying to level the playing field of opportunity for all people.
But the statement of the rich are lucky or the poor are lazy and both equally dismissive throw away statements that are used to justify an animosity towards those groups.
I'm sure many poor people are in fact lazy too, but I'd never be dismissive of the circumstances that contribute to someone being poor like abuse, mental health problems, addictions, discrimation, lack of access to education etc.
It's just easy to say take money away from lucky people and that's why people like the OP obsess about saying that. It allows for a Robin Hood type fiction about evil rich people just not accurate in most of the real world.