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Comment by csallen | Hacker News Reader

I didn't say millions of people are capable of becoming a billionaire. I said millions of people are capable of becoming successful. Both of you are reading into the "billionaire" part of PG's essay too literally, as if it's saying the only yard stick for success is billionaire status.

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Alright, so you're not saying it.

But PG is literally addressing the billionaire question. He's literally replying to a statement about billionaires specifically.

We're not reading too much into it.

Like I said, millionaire sure. (You could see it as another word for "successful"). Billionaire? Absolutely not, and it just sounds like you and PG are trying to change the subject, because the actual topic can't be refuted.

Or PG is so disconnected from reality that he's intentionally directly saying "I earned billions".

Go read the last paragraph of his essay. He's talking about becoming rich. He's not literally saying that billionaire is the only line that matches. Again, you're reading into this too literally. Do you genuinely think that PG would say that making less than a billion dollars is not successful? He's obviously using the "billion" yardstick as a rhetorical device.

So it's a cheap dig at a politician he doesn't like, by misrepresenting and basically mocking her?

Yeah that's not better.

I'm not an AOC fan, but wow that makes PG an ugly political hack, not a clever writer.

There's no way to spin this that makes PG look good.

In what way was she misrepresented? In what way is PG mocking her? I don't follow. She really does believe that you can't earn a billion dollars, and that there are no ethical billionaires. And that sentiment is echoed by many millions, most of whom I would wager know very little about the economics and mechanisms behind creating wealth.

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