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This is the thing that drives me crazy. The true rags to riches stories are incredibly rare. In the USA we love the stories about the person that came from noth

This is the thing that drives me crazy. The true rags to riches stories are incredibly rare. In the USA we love the stories about the person that came from nothing and the self-made millionaire but in the vast majority of cases if you look at the person's history you will see they grew up in at least an upper middle class family. This applies to a lot of actors and musicians as well. After all, most of us couldn't afford to be a struggling artist for years without some financial support. Yes, there are exceptions but those are exactly that: exceptions.

whoomp12342 5y ago
its because appearing humble is a much better PR than saying "yeah I did it, it was easy"
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  And also because the public likes the idea of themselves moving up the socioeconomic ladder (“temporarily embarassed deca-millionaires”). I think a lot of the political strife in the recent past is due to the increasing inability to ignore how unlikely and how unrealistic this goal is for many.
klik99 5y ago
What's frustrating is that it used to be more common in the US in mid-20th century, after the break up of large companies 100 years ago, but is now regressing back to what's been the norm for almost all human civilization.
jandrewrogers 5y ago
For something that is "incredibly rare", I sure seem to know an enormous number of people that managed to bootstrap their way out of real poverty and into real wealth. At least a dozen. It isn't that exceptional, you are overfitting on having heard of them; the vast, vast majority are never going to be written about nor advertise the fact. In many contexts, it is beneficial to pretend like you had an upper-middle class upbringing, so people learn to wear that facade well. When I see assertions like the above made, it makes me think that it is an assumption made by people that haven't actually spent much time living among the lower economic classes.
- bradlys 5y ago
  Yet I know none and have lived in SV for the last 7 years. Every person I’ve met has come from a middle class family at the least. And an educated one - if not high earning as well. Anyone who has significant wealth is from a privileged background or at the least married into one. I’m always from the poorest background, least educated, etc. I’ve yet to meet anyone who gets close to where I was. I don’t even feel like I truly was that bad off but then again - I’ve seen how low it goes and most people in SV cannot even comprehend what the bottom looks like in the US.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    Aren't there a lot of immigrants from poorer countries in California?
    - bradlys 5y ago
      > Aren't there a lot of immigrants from poorer countries in California? Poorer countries - maybe. Immigrants who are poor but end up being wealthy? No. Most people who immigrate to SV are wealthy or at least upper middle class in their home country. (US or otherwise - actually. This is prevalent across all countries - again - I don't meet people who are from poor backgrounds in SV, regardless of country)
  - jandrewrogers 5y ago
    I lived in Silicon Valley a long time, and I knew several of these people from when they (and I) were still very poor. They are hiding in plain sight and "pass" as generic upper-middle class people because many have gone to great lengths to project that image and erase the affectations of their background. Obscuring whence they came has significant social advantages. There is still a lot of visible bigotry in Silicon Valley against e.g. an escapee from a trailer park in rural Appalachia that bootstrapped a software career in Silicon Valley without a college degree (real example), even if they are highly successful, and they'd rather avoid dealing with it. Much easier to blend in if you can. A significant percentage of the ones I knew were not even in tech, which in Silicon Valley means you fly completely under the radar. For example, I know a formerly poor immigrant that made their money in old school book publishing, of all things. The common thread is smart people willing to work hard. There are a lot of them.

whoomp12342 5y ago

its because appearing humble is a much better PR than saying "yeah I did it, it was easy"

lotsofpulp 5y ago
And also because the public likes the idea of themselves moving up the socioeconomic ladder (“temporarily embarassed deca-millionaires”). I think a lot of the political strife in the recent past is due to the increasing inability to ignore how unlikely and how unrealistic this goal is for many.

klik99 5y ago

What's frustrating is that it used to be more common in the US in mid-20th century, after the break up of large companies 100 years ago, but is now regressing back to what's been the norm for almost all human civilization.

jandrewrogers 5y ago

For something that is "incredibly rare", I sure seem to know an enormous number of people that managed to bootstrap their way out of real poverty and into real wealth. At least a dozen. It isn't that exceptional, you are overfitting on having heard of them; the vast, vast majority are never going to be written about nor advertise the fact. In many contexts, it is beneficial to pretend like you had an upper-middle class upbringing, so people learn to wear that facade well. When I see assertions like the above made, it makes me think that it is an assumption made by people that haven't actually spent much time living among the lower economic classes.

bradlys 5y ago
Yet I know none and have lived in SV for the last 7 years. Every person I’ve met has come from a middle class family at the least. And an educated one - if not high earning as well. Anyone who has significant wealth is from a privileged background or at the least married into one. I’m always from the poorest background, least educated, etc. I’ve yet to meet anyone who gets close to where I was. I don’t even feel like I truly was that bad off but then again - I’ve seen how low it goes and most people in SV cannot even comprehend what the bottom looks like in the US.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  Aren't there a lot of immigrants from poorer countries in California?
  - bradlys 5y ago
    > Aren't there a lot of immigrants from poorer countries in California? Poorer countries - maybe. Immigrants who are poor but end up being wealthy? No. Most people who immigrate to SV are wealthy or at least upper middle class in their home country. (US or otherwise - actually. This is prevalent across all countries - again - I don't meet people who are from poor backgrounds in SV, regardless of country)
- jandrewrogers 5y ago
  I lived in Silicon Valley a long time, and I knew several of these people from when they (and I) were still very poor. They are hiding in plain sight and "pass" as generic upper-middle class people because many have gone to great lengths to project that image and erase the affectations of their background. Obscuring whence they came has significant social advantages. There is still a lot of visible bigotry in Silicon Valley against e.g. an escapee from a trailer park in rural Appalachia that bootstrapped a software career in Silicon Valley without a college degree (real example), even if they are highly successful, and they'd rather avoid dealing with it. Much easier to blend in if you can. A significant percentage of the ones I knew were not even in tech, which in Silicon Valley means you fly completely under the radar. For example, I know a formerly poor immigrant that made their money in old school book publishing, of all things. The common thread is smart people willing to work hard. There are a lot of them.