Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Ah, a realistic answer. Never mind that for every "Pursuit of Happyness" story, there's a George W. Bush, son of a successful businessman and President, grandson of a railroad baron, who was able to float through life wanting for nothing because his family was wealthy before he was ever born. For every kid from the ghetto who was able to get an education and a nice scholarship to a great university, there's a Paris Hilton who has literally zero marketable talents, but shitloads of money because daddy owns some hotels.
I'd like to see this backed up.
Trust fund babies are a rare breed. There are lots more people living a comfortable lifestyle through hard work than there are Paris Hiltons.
Granted, trust fund babies on the scale of Paris Hilton are few and far between. However, so are the people who come from abject poverty building themselves into millionaires. The fact of the matter is money begets money. So while Bill Gates made billions out of virtually nothing, we can't forget that he was the son of a prominent lawyer and the grandson of a banking magnate; he wasn't the richest kid in the world, but being in the upper eschelon to begin with allowed him access to finer education then you'd find in a poverty stricken inner city school (for example).
My aunt is well off. She's not hugely rich, but she'd certainly be in the upper 1 percent of earners (techincally her husband would be). They were able to put their children through private school from a young age, which makes admission into higher caliber colleges easier, which translated into her sons getting advanced degrees from fine schools. One is working as a financial advisor in San Francisco where he makes a high six figure income and the possibilities for growth are astronomical. He works damn hard, and I won't say he's undeserving of his income, but without the help of all that expensive education in his past, how likely is it that he would be as financially successful as he is now? Not very.
I work at a private K-12 which caters to a clientele that can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on education for their children. We have the sons and daughters of company presidents, CEOs, CFOs, doctors, lawyers, and the wealthy elite of the area in attendance. Financial aid is made available to some students, but the simple fact is that most of our clientele is wealthy and can afford not only the tuition, but further donations on top of that. But looking at the graduation statistics, in the last three years, only one student has not been enrolled in college at the time of graduation. There are zero public high schools in the country that can make that claim.
The fact is money begets money. Money opens doors to educational opportunities, which lead to further opportunity for money. Drive, commitment and a dedicated work ethic are absolutely important factors, yes. But budmanton's ridiculous claim of "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" ignores the fact that most of today's super-rich came from backgrounds that already had the financial means to allow them to obtain an education and pursue their dreams in a way that's not usually possible in a family where a child is expected to contribute financially at a young age.
