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Add education, family contacts, financial security, financial support and the non-linear reward for making it to higher positions. Because the article includes

Add education, family contacts, financial security, financial support and the non-linear reward for making it to higher positions. Because the article includes education, let's have a smart kid with good education from a poor family: They still won't study abroad in europe; won't take a year to work on their startup; any startup won't be financed by friends, family and fools; won't be introduced to the CEO of some company by his uncle; won't be meeting people on the golf course; they probably even studied longer and are missing relevant job experience because they had to finance it themselves. If they are smart they can make it further up, but the inhibitors add up and they won't make it all the way.

javajosh 7y ago
the inhibitors add up and they won't make it all the way Yes, but they can make it some part of the way up, putting their kids in position to go a little higher, and so on. Success is largely social, a multi-generational task, which is why parents push their kids so hard: college, and then elite college, is the main step that breaks the cycle. Maybe gen 1 goes to Stanford and joins a FAANG. It's gen 2 who will have the CEO uncle and a shot at founding a FAANG.
- brayhite 7y ago
  > Success is ... a multi-generational task Hence the momentum to address the monstrous differences in opportunity that have been created after many, many generations of treating particular groups of Americans as second-class if not outright sub-human.
  - javajosh 7y ago
    Presumably once the downward pressure is removed, the oppressed group will recover, no? I am troubled by the impulse to see society as this simplistic set of oppressors and oppressed. It seems that almost every group got to play both roles at one time or another in various combinations. And it seems weird to want to pay back a debt racked up by an ancestor. Or not even an ancestor, just an ancestor of someone who looks like your ancestors. Anyway, I don't think you help oppressed people like that, I think you help them by going in there and teaching and being positive about the real opportunities available - to go to college, get a job, earn a living. Live in a bougie neighborhood, maybe.
    - BuckRogers 7y ago
      It's not just racial. It's largely class based, which can be tied to race. It's less oppressors vs oppressed, but more ownership class vs working class. That's why schemes that involve ownership stakes for the average person work out so well. People need to have some skin in the game (society, economically), to feel like a part of it and that they matter. Cut them out due to ownership-class greed and you have a recipe for disaster. Not just human suffering, which is bad enough to purposefully enable on your fellow man, but revolution. Class struggle is the mainstay in societies throughout the ages.
- anotheryou 7y ago
  Doesn't that make my point? It's a lot about background and not your ability. It might be in part the ability of your ancestors (if they where on a fair playing ground), but certainly not just yours.
- BuckRogers 7y ago
  This is true but it's usually not spoken so nonchalantly by those who aren't already in a good position themselves. We should actively remove these barriers to a good life. A simple and straight forward solution is that every job is required to have a union available by law, we remove most of our inequality to the point where fighting about who has multi-generational privilege is no longer an issue. One step further is worker ownership of the company they work for. Example, instead of being publicly traded, Facebook should be owned by the people that work there, 1 share per employee. It would result in a much healthier environment and less psychopathic corporate behavior.

javajosh 7y ago

the inhibitors add up and they won't make it all the way Yes, but they can make it some part of the way up, putting their kids in position to go a little higher, and so on. Success is largely social, a multi-generational task, which is why parents push their kids so hard: college, and then elite college, is the main step that breaks the cycle. Maybe gen 1 goes to Stanford and joins a FAANG. It's gen 2 who will have the CEO uncle and a shot at founding a FAANG.

brayhite 7y ago
> Success is ... a multi-generational task Hence the momentum to address the monstrous differences in opportunity that have been created after many, many generations of treating particular groups of Americans as second-class if not outright sub-human.
- javajosh 7y ago
  Presumably once the downward pressure is removed, the oppressed group will recover, no? I am troubled by the impulse to see society as this simplistic set of oppressors and oppressed. It seems that almost every group got to play both roles at one time or another in various combinations. And it seems weird to want to pay back a debt racked up by an ancestor. Or not even an ancestor, just an ancestor of someone who looks like your ancestors. Anyway, I don't think you help oppressed people like that, I think you help them by going in there and teaching and being positive about the real opportunities available - to go to college, get a job, earn a living. Live in a bougie neighborhood, maybe.
  - BuckRogers 7y ago
    It's not just racial. It's largely class based, which can be tied to race. It's less oppressors vs oppressed, but more ownership class vs working class. That's why schemes that involve ownership stakes for the average person work out so well. People need to have some skin in the game (society, economically), to feel like a part of it and that they matter. Cut them out due to ownership-class greed and you have a recipe for disaster. Not just human suffering, which is bad enough to purposefully enable on your fellow man, but revolution. Class struggle is the mainstay in societies throughout the ages.
anotheryou 7y ago
Doesn't that make my point? It's a lot about background and not your ability. It might be in part the ability of your ancestors (if they where on a fair playing ground), but certainly not just yours.
BuckRogers 7y ago
This is true but it's usually not spoken so nonchalantly by those who aren't already in a good position themselves. We should actively remove these barriers to a good life. A simple and straight forward solution is that every job is required to have a union available by law, we remove most of our inequality to the point where fighting about who has multi-generational privilege is no longer an issue. One step further is worker ownership of the company they work for. Example, instead of being publicly traded, Facebook should be owned by the people that work there, 1 share per employee. It would result in a much healthier environment and less psychopathic corporate behavior.