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Comment by simonbarker87 | Hacker News Reader

The alternative is genuine entrepreneurship or working your butt off in school in an area that is actually in demand rather than a pointless degree. There seems to be an assumption now that everyone is entitled to a nice cushy lifestyle but if you don’t work in school, don’t develop in demand skills or find a gap in the market to exploit then it’s not going to happen.

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Ah shit, that was my mistake, I didn't just pick an in demand niche that no one else had already identified and filled. Good thing I had this safety net to fall on after I spent my savings that took me 30 years to build up to make an attempt on a business.

As it stands in the US currently if you don't receive help from your parents or some other rich connection, the average person is winning the lottery if they start a business and succeed. There is nothing between you and homelessness if you don't have the business succeed, and any sort of health problem will nuke what savings you have immediately

Yeah, seems like wealth is generally created over generations, rather than lifetimes (common case might be something like: 0 - 1 your grandparents immigrate and work hard to survive, 1-10 your parents work hard to go from subsistence to middle class, 10 - 100 you have enough safety net to take risks/follow passions/start successful bussinesses). Of course there's always exceptions.

...or wages have simply not kept up with inflation. I'm a high school teacher in a state that has a teacher shortage (and yet performs at toward the top of the national rankings). I'm good at my job - do it because it matters in a way that most jobs don't - and have rapidly moved up into the best districts in the state. In demand isn't always the issue. My take home pay is 27k. Teaching is obviously in the news lately for pay concerns - but this hollowing out of wages is across the board.

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