Funny, the only mention of Elon Musk is in the description of the header photo... I wonder, why include him in the photo at all if you're not going to talk about him? Did he have rich parents?

So what I'm getting from the article is that these three men lived in middle class households in the 70s, 80s and 90s, a period in America with a strong middle class, and that by today's standards had well off parents, but by the standards at the time, maybe only a little better off than the average person? There's a big difference between withdrawing a quarter million dollars from the bank and taking out a home equity loan and risking your security to help your son's business venture.