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Comment by quotemstr | Hacker News Reader

> So poor people are lazy and the rich aren't?

Honestly, yes --- not always, but frequently.

I am sick and tired of the mentality embedded in the sentence I quoted. Do you think the rich are rich for no reason at all? That their rewards are unfair?

Success is not the universe sprinkling good fortune on mankind at random: success comes from hard work and the courage to take advantage of the opportunities that time presents to everyone from time to time.

Let's be honest with ourselves for one and acknowledge the connection between teachable personal qualities and desirable outcomes.

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Probably the hardest working people that I've seen are recent immigrants, doing literally the shittiest work in the shittiest conditions for people who probably had a lot of advantages set up for them and never worked remotely as much or with as much abuse, and who are genuine monsters.

The prime minister of Canada is not rich and powerful because he worked hard enough as a teacher. He became a teacher because his former prime minister dad set him up very well, with nothing else to do but fuck around doing dumb peasant things. Ya, he worked hard, but never had to worry about anything from day 1. His former prime minister dad only did the exact same thing after his dad made a ton of money in oil and gas.

Elon Musk's dad was a literal explorer who made his money in... mining.

No. No no no.

I make six figures and hardly work at all. As a dishwasher I used to bust my ass and make 7 dollars per hour. In my experience, the less you work, the more money you make. Everyone I've talked to in real life, who has worked both shitty jobs and high paying jobs, has the exact same experience.

I agree. I am paid more now than I ever have been in my life and I work less than I ever have. One of my roomates has worked in kitchens all his life and I assure you he works a hell of a lot harder than I ever did, yet makes a pittance.

> Success is not the universe sprinkling good fortune on mankind at random.

Yes. Yes it is. For every successful person in the world, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of people with just as much courage, work ethic and intelligence who didn’t get the same opportunities presented to them.

Do not mistake this position as “it’s unfair that everyone isn’t successful”. The world does not distribute potential equally. What I’m saying is that there are further barriers, completely out of one’s control, that can keep worthy people from success.

> success comes from hard work

The poor work very hard.

> and the courage to take advantage of the opportunities that time presents to everyone from time to time.

It's very easy to take risks when you can fall back on mommy and daddy's wealth if something goes wrong. It's easy to grab opportunities when mommy or daddy can co-sign your loan or put up the downpayment.

Those things are true even moderate amounts of stability or wealth.

> Do you think the rich are rich for no reason at all?

No, social immobility and generational wealth transfer.

> That their rewards are unfair?

Often, yes.

I think it's sort of unfair to reduce the whole argument to a one-liner like that. Sure, many people do take advantage of generational wealth, setting your children up for success is a basic human impulse. There are also a ton of data supporting the case that actually a huge percentage of successful/wealthy people did not get that way through generational wealth but in fact, just worked hard (also luck plays a factor).

Also, yes the rewards are unfair, life is extremely unfair pretty much all of the time.

> I think it's sort of unfair to reduce the whole argument to a one-liner like that.

My answers had a commensurate level of respect to the questions.

>muh generational wealth Gone in two or three generations - irrelevant to policy decisions. Handing out these (false) mental crutches is unproductive and just creates resentment in the wrong places. Some people take a risk and are rewarded for it. Some people just work hard. Some people got a shit hand. You come across as one of those load voices clamoring for some policy without any appreciation for nuance.

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