If by “advantages” you mean intelligence, creativity, motivation and persistence, then I guess that might make some sense.
nether answer is right.
The rich are rich because they learned how to manage their money. They didn’t work any harder, if fact they probably worked far less physically demanding jobs and fewer hours than most poor people. BUT they saved and/or invested a lot of what they made instead of wasting it on frivolous crud.
This is why many poor lottery winners end up broke. Even a multi-million dollar windfall cant save them from their poor choices.
Key conclusions:
1. Damn that evil Trump
2. Socialism will fix this
Working both smarter and harder has the best chance of leading to success.
Disturbing. They are probably right when it comes to the super rich. But hard work, frugality, marital status and good decision making are very important to rising out of the lowest socioeconomic ranks. One thing is a fact: if you grow up poor, refuse to work and/or improve your skills and blame someone else for your ills, you will continue to be poor. America continues to be a land of opportunity, no matter what the community organizers and commie propagandists say.
Absolutes aren’t correct either way.
Most real Americans in a small town in the flyover states are richer than all the elites in the world combined. Cause they have a good simple job, with a loving wife and family, that puts God and Christ at the center - and they know that puts all the devils riches to shame. It’s just no contest.
Decade upon decade of indoctrination. In my experience, most wealthy people have worked for their money or are really smart. Even liberals like Bloomberg. A smaller subset do get their money without working (like the Kennedys). Its a good argument for a large inheritance tax.
Obviously this explains why Elizabeth Warren lied repeatedly to make herself out to be a Native American.
My neighbor made 150K+ a year and lost his house and declared bankruptcy.
13 credit cards ballooned into a 450K home equity debt.
You can’t save people from their poor choices rich or poor.
Lots of people work very hard, and are still poor.
Better questions, they carefully did not ask:
How many people are poor because they made bad choices in life?
How many people are poor because they spent everything they made, as fast as they made it?
How many people are poor because they got deep in debt as fast as they could do it?
Being poor is the easy road to take.
Becoming wealthy is not easy. It takes discipline and thought, not just hard work.
Lots of people work hard and don’t become rich. I wouldn’t expect a poll to reflect that hard work is the reason people become rich. There are many factors that can go into a person becoming rich relative to others. Hard work, intelligence, connections, luck, natural talent of some kind, inherited wealth, etc ...
There are plenty of people with all or many of those things who didn’t become or stay rich. Hard work is seen as being more virtuous than those other factors, so rich people like to attribute their success to hard work. That’s nicer than saying “well, I’m just smarter than you.”
I will say I’ve known some very hard working people who have struggled and still struggle financially.
I’m all about respecting effort, initiative, and hard work, but not everyone was as fortunate as I in being taught to save, invest, spend wisely and live below my means. My best bud growing up- has taken maybe three vacations in 40+ years of working hard (welding and fabricating gates and doors and other equipment), honest, sober, but at 60+ is now a physical wreck with no health coverage or money in the bank; not for laziness, though.
Obviously if one neither has any life instruction courtesy parents or mentors in how to be financially responsible *AND* is lazy and or a boozer/druggie, it’s even worse.
About 3/4 or the well off guys I know got there on their own, from either scratch or from no more than I (basic middle class Catholic and strict upbringing), a couple inherited decently running enterprises and did not screw anything up, a couple were given everything on a silver platter and are dead from drugs or HIV.
It’s not an ‘either/or’, you can do everything right and still not retire with few cares, but not being stupid and/or lazy helps.
Liberal education: Working hard doesn’t get you anywhere. It is rich white folks who keep you down. Why bother?
I always think of Dave Ramsey’s distinction between being broke and being poor.
Broke is a temporary state of being that can be overcome with some work and discipline. Poor is a state of mind that is mostly attributable to a lack of discipline and is far more difficult to overcome.
“Most Americans don’t believe people are rich because they work hard or poor because they don’t”
And people are not smart because they read and study or dumb because they don’t.
People don’t smell because they take showers or stink because they don’t.
Another “dividend” of our educational system. Just blame someone and give up. America has nothing to be proud of./s
Old: Admiration for innovators, inventors, captains of industry, Founders and common people who sacrificed to work to build America and those who risked or gave their lives in the armed forces. Ten Commandments on many school buildings and post offices.
New: No responsibility-—just blame-—for any shortcomings. Males at fault for any defeat or failure by a feminist woman. (True story: Woman I know told me her female psychiatrist concluded that nearly all of women’s psychological problems come from the harm done by the sexist male dominant society.)
And the oft heard variations on: He had no choice but a life of being a career criminal-—not enough government benefits, he came from a low income family, no opportunities for a person of color compared to whites, and America is set up to favor the top elites.
False choice in the poll question. I’ve known poor people who work hard. They remain poor because they make easier or worse choices in other aspects in their lives. A 12-pack of Busch is more satisfying than putting the money in an investment account. Watching The Batchelor is more fun than working on the house.
I'm well off because I worked hard to take advantage of the advantages I was provided with by my hard-working parents. Just having had more advantages in life than someone else isn't a ticket to affluence.
I know many people who had every opportunity presented to them do little other than squander each and every one, usually through the lack of hard work on their own part.