> Hard work leading to social mobility has always been the exception, not the rule. Most will not beat the odds since if they did, those wouldn't BE the odds

These claims simply don't hold up against scrutiny.

In the US, children born into a family in the bottom quintile of household income have a 58% chance to step up into a higher income bracket as adults, a ~30% chance to realize an above average income as an adult, and a 6% to reach the top quintile.

Being born into poor circumstances makes things undeniably harder, but the claim that working hard won't lead to a better life is patently false (and imo extremely pernicious).

Source: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/02_econ...

Reading through these comments, I see an onslaught of unverifiable claims. I'd really appreciate evidence.