General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A day in the life of the self made man. [View all]JoeyT
(6,785 posts)The answer is that it's mostly privilege and luck.
Everyone loves the feel good story of the guy that started a business from nothing and now he's thriving, but for every one of that guy there are hundreds that managed to cobble together a business only to have it fail due to circumstances that are often beyond their control.
For every one of that shining success story there are probably literally thousands that wanted to create a business and just flat out couldn't raise the capital to do it. Maybe their parents were dirt poor so they had no access to credit. Maybe they couldn't get loans because they didn't have any collateral because they'd never made more than minimum wage. Maybe they just had the wrong skin color and the bank didn't want to lend them money.
"Everyone has access to a public education, at least through high school. Everyone has access to the infrastructure - roads, bridges, seaports, airports, etc. Everyone has access to the internet."
Yeah, but your access to public education doesn't count for much if you're raising younger siblings. It doesn't help much if you're poorer than a churchmouse and the entire experience is miserable, either. Access to roads and bridges doesn't count for shit if you can't afford a car. Access to airports doesn't count for much if you can't afford tickets. Access to the internet doesn't count for much if you can't afford a computer. Access to seaports doesn't count for much if you can't afford it either.
Everyone doesn't have the same ability to use education, capital, or infrastructure. To pretend they do is downright silly.