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Let's not ignore the fact that Sam Walton had enough cash to buy a department store at the age of 27. That helps too.

chronic729 9y ago
> Let's not ignore the fact that Sam Walton had enough cash to buy a department store at the age of 27. That helps too. So poor people should never try to be an entrepreneur because the world is rigged against them? Well that surely will help reduce the wealth inequality.
- overcast 9y ago
  Everyone should try, but with the understanding that the world is definitely rigged against them.
- vtange 9y ago
  OP didn't suggest that though. Many people have a black-and-white ideal in which entrepreneurship means making the next Facebook or Amazon and end up aiming too high for their own means.
jjeaff 9y ago
Well, he didn't exactly have the money. He borrowed $20k from his father in law and used $5k from his own military savings. No small sum I suppose. (around $300k adjusted for inflation). But also not a "small million dollar loan". ($4 million inflation adjusted even IF it were true.) But Sam's real story is not the rags to riches. It the brilliant and hard work that took him from riches to extraordinary success.
- throwaway84742 9y ago
  Dude turned that million dollar loan into $140M though. People tend to omit that part for some reason.
  - mlloyd 9y ago
    Because only 1% of the country can get a $1MM loan to start.
    - throwaway84742 9y ago
      0.001% of the country can multiply it hundred fold over the course of a few years. I have a million just sitting around in equities. I don’t know how to do it.
  - jjeaff 9y ago
    As did absolutely anyone and everyone who had money invested in Manhattan Real estate at the time. Trumps real business record is abysmal with a few gambles that paid off and it appears purely due to luck. Additionally, when his father died, all that money was passed down. Had that amount of money been put in the S&P 500 at the time, trump would be far richer today.
    - throwaway84742 9y ago
      When you turn a few million dollars into $4.5B you can come here and talk about “abysmal” records and stuff. With very few exceptions, any businessman would give their first born to have an abysmal record of this kind, and _then_ top it off by becoming POTUS.

> Let's not ignore the fact that Sam Walton had enough cash to buy a department store at the age of 27. That helps too. So poor people should never try to be an entrepreneur because the world is rigged against them? Well that surely will help reduce the wealth inequality.

overcast 9y ago
Everyone should try, but with the understanding that the world is definitely rigged against them.
vtange 9y ago
OP didn't suggest that though. Many people have a black-and-white ideal in which entrepreneurship means making the next Facebook or Amazon and end up aiming too high for their own means.

jjeaff 9y ago

Well, he didn't exactly have the money. He borrowed $20k from his father in law and used $5k from his own military savings. No small sum I suppose. (around $300k adjusted for inflation). But also not a "small million dollar loan". ($4 million inflation adjusted even IF it were true.) But Sam's real story is not the rags to riches. It the brilliant and hard work that took him from riches to extraordinary success.

throwaway84742 9y ago
Dude turned that million dollar loan into $140M though. People tend to omit that part for some reason.
- mlloyd 9y ago
  Because only 1% of the country can get a $1MM loan to start.
  - throwaway84742 9y ago
    0.001% of the country can multiply it hundred fold over the course of a few years. I have a million just sitting around in equities. I don’t know how to do it.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  As did absolutely anyone and everyone who had money invested in Manhattan Real estate at the time. Trumps real business record is abysmal with a few gambles that paid off and it appears purely due to luck. Additionally, when his father died, all that money was passed down. Had that amount of money been put in the S&P 500 at the time, trump would be far richer today.
  - throwaway84742 9y ago
    When you turn a few million dollars into $4.5B you can come here and talk about “abysmal” records and stuff. With very few exceptions, any businessman would give their first born to have an abysmal record of this kind, and _then_ top it off by becoming POTUS.