11 May 2024 5:18 am
Vegas » 10 May 2024, 9:27 am » wrote: ↑ I can't think of one rich person who didn't have a head start before they accumulated their wealth.Etc....
- I admire Bezos mother, who was dirt poor with her children. However, she ended up marrying a Cuban refugee who had a very successful career in finance. He lent Jeff 245k to start Amazon. Therefore, Jeff himself was not a rags to riches story. His father's story was also admirable. He came from Cuba with nothing more than a ragged jacket. No family. Nothing. Literally rags. So what happened? Well...taxpayers happened. The refugee camp sent him through high school with a place to stay. He worked his *** off, and I admire him. I certainly wouldn't want to experience his conditions. Nevertheless, hadn't it been for the taxpayers, he would have stayed homeless. His mother would still be poor and they would have never been able to give Jeff 245k.
- Gates has always been rich.
- Musk's father owned an emerald mine.
- Jobs came from a middle class family.
well there is a bit of a reductio ad absurdum when you bring up taxpayers because of course nobody could 'make money' if they dont live in some society that recognizes the value of money. Obviously nobody can have wealth all by themselves...other people have to exist.
Money is itself just a sort of illusion that everyone agrees to pretend is real.
So I guess we could be left pondering what 'rags to riches' even means on some fundamental level.