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Again if you look at the data, class mobility has decreased over time. It's not about effort. It should be a meritocracy, but it's not. It's ironic that conservatives push policies that lead us further and further away from a meritocracy...but still want the whole legend of bootstraps. You can't have it both ways.
"It is extremely hard to become a self made millionaire or very wealthy."
That's the whole point. It is extremely hard, much more so than 90% of people are willing to do. The level of effort, length of time to accomplish, creativity necessary, attention to detail, single mindedness, all these things lead to a unique personality. That, including a bit of luck as a minor component are all necessary.
This is what 'founders' all have in common. These are the real entrepreneurs and are a far different type than those who had it given to them or took over later. I know many people like this and was one myself. Don't think that those who came from families with money necessarily were aided by them. Someone with those traits consider it a point of pride to do it on their own. The ones who were setup are more likely to be the manager type which is far different kind of person.
PS- I'd never deny my people $5 for donuts. Your workers greatly compound your ability to accomplish your goals, or can hurt them. Treat them right.
Many people say hard working, intelligent people will become rich.
Name them.
Your statement is absolute, when nobody is actually saying that those people WILL become rich. The entire premise of your post is based on a falsehood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unseengundam
There are about 50 million people (or 27% of the US population) with BA degree or above. I would assume most of these people are intelligent and hard working.
That's a hell of an assumption to be making. All it means is that those people were able to handle a couple more years of high school. It says nothing about their intelligence or work ethic.
It takes more than just intelligence and hard work to become "rich." It also takes the drive to do so.
A lot of people dream about being wealthy, but very, very few actually take steps to get there. Most people think it's an unattainable fantasy. In their own minds, they're just as likely to own a unicorn. Those people, regardless of their intelligence or work ethic, will never have a lot of money. The first step to getting there is understanding that you can, and not many people actually do that.
There are also skills required that are completely separate from being intelligent and hard working. You have to know how to make decisions which will take you down the right path. You have to know how to handle money and not squander it.
I know two guys with similar intelligence and education who do similar jobs (I met them at a company I worked for where they both did the same job). They both work hard and draw a very nice salary. One lives paycheck to paycheck while the other could probably retire today if he wanted to.
If you want to be "rich," whatever you define that to be, you have to have the right outlook and make the right choices. Even then, there's no guarantee, but you must have a plan to get there, and that is the one thing that very few seem to be willing to do - regardless of how intelligent they are, what level of education they have or how hard they work.
Many people say hard working, intelligent people will become rich. Usually they use it defend the fact top 1% of people in US own most of wealth in the USA. However, the FACT is most hard working, smart people will not get rich.
There are about 50 million people (or 27% of the US population) with BA degree or above. I would assume most of these people are intelligent and hard working. However, there are only 7.9 millionaires in the US (about 2.5% of population), which means most of these hard working people are not rich. This doesn't even consider becoming super rich billionaires, there are only 403 billionaires of them in United States. Most intelligent, hard working people will find it impossible to join the ranks of the rich.
I would think the posters/people who keep on sayings smarts and hard work leads to riches are themselves intelligent and hard working. Question is how many of them, if any, are actually millionaires? I would guess only a very few!
Your own statistics answer your questions. If there are 7.9 million millionaires, that means it is quite possible and quite common for people to become "rich". Millions have done it and millions more will do it.
And you don't have to have a college degree. You do have to have the DESIRE to be rich. I suspect that most people don't have that desire and are quite comfortable just getting along or at least living comfortably. Most people are not ready to make the sacrifices needed to accumulate wealth.
Again if you look at the data, class mobility has decreased over time. It's not about effort. It should be a meritocracy, but it's not. It's ironic that conservatives push policies that lead us further and further away from a meritocracy...but still want the whole legend of bootstraps. You can't have it both ways.
I don't know, because I don't know what 'rich' is, but everyone I know who works really hard and is really, really smart is pretty comfortable/wealthy.
Not everyone I know who is wealthy is smart or hard-working, though. So it doesn't cut both ways.
Your own statistics answer your questions. If there are 7.9 million millionaires, that means it is quite possible and quite common for people to become "rich". Millions have done it and millions more will do it.
And you don't have to have a college degree. You do have to have the DESIRE to be rich. I suspect that most people don't have that desire and are quite comfortable just getting along or at least living comfortably. Most people are not ready to make the sacrifices needed to accumulate wealth.
Yes.
And everyone thinks they work hard.
But if they knew what working hard really was, they'd running screaming from the hills.
Again if you look at the data, class mobility has decreased over time. It's not about effort. It should be a meritocracy, but it's not. It's ironic that conservatives push policies that lead us further and further away from a meritocracy...but still want the whole legend of bootstraps. You can't have it both ways.
How did you decide "it's not about effort"?
My experience is just the opposite. It's all about effort. Anyone with above average intelligence can become rich if they have the desire.
It's not negativity. I'm very happy with my status in life. I'm not rich, but I have what I need. I have WAY more life experience at age 25 than many people have in a lifetime. For that I'm grateful.
However, I'm simply commenting on the fact that it is not sheer coincidence that tax cuts and cuts in public spending (education and other social services) have created class rigidity.
With the hallmarks of the modern middle-upper middle class being more and more expensive (education, healthcare, home ownership) and out pacing income, we see that the increased precariousness of the middle class.
The rich have gotten richer while the rest have either stagnated or gotten poorer.
The lowest segment of the population has actually gotten poorer.
However, conservatives tend to believe that they are the best for solving this crisis. Instead of funding for more university education or better job training or even for more government subsidized loans for small businesses, conservatives typically call for tax cuts for the rich. This money is typically
not invested in local enterprises.
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