I think there are two issues the article, and perhaps the wsj poll highlight. Firstly the "hard work leads to success" myth. In truth hard-working (by itself)

I think there are two issues the article, and perhaps the wsj poll highlight. Firstly the "hard work leads to success" myth. In truth hard-working (by itself) means nothing. Johnny's hard work studying doesn't lead to an A. Answering the questions correctly leads to an A. Just working hard isn't enough, you have to work effectively on the correct material. So in the sense that "if you work hard, you will succeed", that American Dream has best be described as "incomplete specification." Hard work matters. An athlete works hard Monday to Friday in the gym, and on the training ground, so they can perform well on Saturday. Do they always win? Does the one who worked the hardest always win? No. Hard work, on the right thing, in the right way, stacks the odds. But luck plays a part. Sometimes a huge part. You still need the work to exploit the luck, but its helpful if its there. Secondly I think the "inequality" gap is not as significant as the "general standard of living". I know, I know, im supposed to care if you have a billion, and I only have a million, but I don't. For me, enough is enough, and good luck to you. Put another way, if you "have enough", then be content - you have achieved the American Dream. BUT that's not to say that I think we gave achieved that. The problem either the "inequality" reported is not the top end, but the bottom. At the moment the bottom are losing. Their standard of living us too low. I know it's controversial, but for me it's better to look at the problem as "how to raise the bottom", not "how to squash the top". Decent environment, housing, food, transport and health care would be enough. I don't need fancy yachts or private planed. Sure we can "hate billionaires", because they got rich exploiting labor (think amazon), but if they were all just millionaires, that wouldn't help much. (But yay, less inequality.) On the other hand raising the bottom likely makes the inequality gap bigger, not smller, but also makes it irrelevant. I'm aware that raising the bottom is not easy, it's a multi-faceted problem with many moving parts. There are no quick fixes. But I think its helpful to frame the problem this way. (Squashing the top is "easier" but less usefull overall).