You've not addressed my main point - that our hierarchies are of competence, not of privilege. Not just anyone can take a few hundred thousand dollar investment and transform it into billions. Leaders of successful corporations are extremely competent and hard working. I would consider fortunes by the likes of Buffet, Gates, Bezos, Jobs, and Musk to be self-made, given their ROI is many orders of magnitude above market. Many of these folks also work 90hr weeks.
This is further substantiated by the fact that 70% of intergenerational wealth transfers fail, and by the third generation, 90% of people with wealthy grandparents are middle class. Raising competent people in a privileged environment is very hard. In our hierarchies of competence, the incompetent offspring of the wealthy tend to fail. Competence is simply something that can't be bought. If our hierarchies were of privilege then this would not be the case. Also grit as a key differentiating factor of economic success is highly substantiated by research.
> rinse and repeat until you can afford apartment complexes and commercial properties
What you're describing is a real estate investment business. Not just anyone can run one successfully. Otherwise these business would never fail, which they plainly do.
Grit without competence is simply not enough (neither is competence without grit). Our world is getting increasingly complex to navigate, and that leaves behind increasingly high numbers of people who simply do not have the attributes required to succeed. Also, there are plenty of self-made, property-owning, middle-class folk in the trades. Many of them started poor. All they do is work hard and run their businesses competently.
If you've a degree in English, History, Politics, or Philosophy; a pile of student debt; and you're struggling to find gainful employment, then that's on you. Choose a career the market demands.
This is further substantiated by the fact that 70% of intergenerational wealth transfers fail, and by the third generation, 90% of people with wealthy grandparents are middle class. Raising competent people in a privileged environment is very hard. In our hierarchies of competence, the incompetent offspring of the wealthy tend to fail. Competence is simply something that can't be bought. If our hierarchies were of privilege then this would not be the case. Also grit as a key differentiating factor of economic success is highly substantiated by research.
> rinse and repeat until you can afford apartment complexes and commercial properties
What you're describing is a real estate investment business. Not just anyone can run one successfully. Otherwise these business would never fail, which they plainly do.
Grit without competence is simply not enough (neither is competence without grit). Our world is getting increasingly complex to navigate, and that leaves behind increasingly high numbers of people who simply do not have the attributes required to succeed. Also, there are plenty of self-made, property-owning, middle-class folk in the trades. Many of them started poor. All they do is work hard and run their businesses competently.
If you've a degree in English, History, Politics, or Philosophy; a pile of student debt; and you're struggling to find gainful employment, then that's on you. Choose a career the market demands.