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You need to read a book called The Millionnaire Next Door. The "American Dream" is very much a real thing and it rarely involves luck or exploitation. At the ti
by marknutter 13y ago
You need to read a book called The Millionnaire Next Door. The "American Dream" is very much a real thing and it rarely involves luck or exploitation. At the time of the book's writing, 80% of millionnaires in the US were first generation millionnaires and a large part of them first generation American immigrants.
> Capitalism means a huge chunk of people literally have to be poor, other wise costs rise, inflation goes mental and capitalism fails.
Of course "poor" is a relative term and the standard of living for the poor continues to rise as new innovations, efficiencies, and wealth enter the market. A poor person can walk into any supermarket and buy food that would have been considered and absurd and extravagant luxury 100 years ago. They can buy cell phones that let them communicate with anybody in the world instantly. But yes, there will always be someone who has less than somebody else, but what does it really matter if everyone's standard of living is rising?
- masomenos 13y agoIf you liked Millionaire next door, let me recommend Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness" for counterpoint.
- marknutter 13y agoHow is it a counterpoint exactly?
- Goronmon 13y agoWell, "Millionaire Next Door" uses examples of millionaires to provide some form of guidance (at least on some level) to non-millionaires on what it takes to actually become wealthy. Though, I haven't read it, I would assume that "Fooled by Randomness" would explain the wealth of the individuals from "Millionare" as more to do with luck than anything else, and that it's not repeatable. And that fulfilling the "American Dream" has more to do with being lucky than with hard work.
- marknutter 13y agoWow. No, I'm sorry, but TMND explains very clearly, backed by solid statistics, how people become rich, and it doesn't have anything to do with luck. In fact, the process of becoming a millionnaire is quite boring and unglamorous; invest prudently, cut expenses, don't buy new cars, have a modest mortgage, etc. Very few of the millionnaires interviewed in the book "got rich quick". The vast majority of millionnaires in the U.S. got there over a long period of time of living well below their means; long enough for luck to be completely factored out.
- thecage411 13y agoIt's been awhile since I read Fooled by Randomness but I think Taleb's point was that TMND only looks at those who became rich, it doesn't look at those who didn't get rich following the same strategy. I haven't read TMND so I can't say if that's true, but your post doesn't refute his point.
- marknutter 13y agoI see what you're getting at, but the key point to understand is that the authors of TMND were able to find a pattern among the millionnaires they interviewed. If these successes were primarily based on chance you wouldn't be able to discern a pattern of behavior because the paths they took to becoming millionaire would be wildly different. They weren't, though. There's the old saying "luck favors the prepared". These folks all probably had their ups and downs in life, but because of their frugality and fiscal responsibility they were able to smooth out the valleys and maximize the hills.
- masomenos 13y agoThis is the line of reasoning Taleb criticizes. I haven't digested his criticism fully enough to fairly summarize it, but I think it's worth a look.