WARNING: Read this article at least one hour removed from your last meal.
"Most importantly, we can learn that the rich got there, in the vast majority of cases, through their dedication, effort, and ingenuity. Begrudging them their success will not make our success any more likely. And whatever you may think, pushing for more income redistribution by the government is definitely begrudging the rich their success. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we should all spend less time condemning the rich and more time flattering them by copying their habits."
One of his other points is that in 2013, 273 of the Forbes 400 richest people were "self-made". Not sure what Horatio Alger fantasy world he lives in, but not a single individual on that list (or any list) made it on their own. Even if we accept that those 273 people lived in a vacuum, attended private schools, never benefitted from government interference through economic redistribution, affirmative action, taxes, etc., that still means 127, or 31%, of those individuals aren't "self-made", according to this writer. Not exactly the strongest argument there Ragged Dick. He also mentions the number of workers per household, TV habits and marriage rates for the quintiles he presents in the article, with no acknowledgement of the environmental and economic circumstances that create conditions that lead to work, more creative leisure activities, and marriage. Why not mention that 40% of American men born in the bottom quintile will die in the bottom quintile, and less than 10% of them make it to the top quintile? Or that 35% of American men born into the top quintile will die in the top quintile, and less than 10% will fall down to the bottom quintile? I'll stop saying quintile now, but it's clear why he avoids such statistics. They make him look ridiculous for focusing on TV habits when there's more important stories to be told with that data.
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