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> There’s also a general toxic mentality in America that we can all work our way to becoming billionaires - in reality, none of us can optimize our way into ha
by jpadkins 7y ago
> There’s also a general toxic mentality in America that we can all work our way to becoming billionaires - in reality, none of us can optimize our way into having family connections to the elites in our society.
Current billionaires are almost all from non-elite backgrounds. Only 1 of the top 10 came from a family with billion dollar wealth.
https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/#57168b13251c https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/#57168b13251c
If you come from an upper middle class background (top 25th percentile), you can become a billionaire in America (with luck and hard work).
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- slumdev 7y agoYou don't need a billion dollars to have an elite background. No one in the top ten is a rags-to-riches story. Plenty of elite universities and family connections.
- jpadkins 7y agoplease don't strawman. I never said rags-to-riches. I said upper middle class (25th percentile). Elite universities take great students from upper middle class, and many of those billionaires did not graduate from elite universities.
- akhilcacharya 7y agoEh...you probably can't get into an elite university without already being elite unless you're a recruited athlete or have another "hook". Normal, middle class kids don't win ISEF or math olympiads unless their parents are professors or something.
- mav3rick 7y agoMany kids do. Just because you didn't doesn't mean others don't.
- thisisbrians 7y agoEven still, the chances are vanishingly small. Substituting "millionaire" for "billionaire" brings it a bit closer to something to realistically strive for, I think (especially for us software/entrepreneur types).