Because we're all temporarily embarrassed startup founders who haven't exited yet.

This attitude is what’s beautiful about the United States and is in large part responsible for why it’s so wealthy.

There’s a widespread faith and believe in the idea that there’s opportunity in every corner, regardless of familial status or other shortcomings.

This belief is largely factual, as the vast majority of unicorn founders and billionaires come from an upper middle class uninteresting background.

Couldn’t you also say it’s largely unfactual, since the vast majority of strivers and grinders never escape their economic class?

I guess it depends on what opportunity means to you. Does it mean something that’s “likely” or “less than one in a thousand”? To me, a “one in a thousand” chance to strike it rich is not good enough to justify the immense suffering our economic system causes.

Our economic system is actually the only thing that reduces suffering to this extent. It’s basically eliminated poverty, hunger, and healthcare scarcity.

When I say “our economic system” I am not talking about capitalism generally, I’m talking about the US system specifically, where we are:

51st in percentage of the population that lives in poverty [1]

Decent but worse than social democratic countries like France and Germany in hunger [2]

Ranked below Canada, France, Germany, the UK in healthcare outcomes, which all have more socialized systems than we do [3]

So I stand behind my broader point: the culture of individualism in the US benefits a select few and hurts us as a whole.

1: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/poverty-r... 2: https://journalistsresource.org/home/food-insecurity-health/... 3: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/2024-09...

Calling it "poverty" is a misnomer - in the United States, even the poorest get food, healthcare, and housing.

This is not a productive, helpful, or interesting comment.

If someone has a good argument regarding x, it is not a good response to say “why are you defending x?” Just respond to the argument on its merit. You’re not adding anything useful to the conversation.

Because stereotyping is not, in fact, OK when you do it.

Not a single billionaire worth shedding a tear over.

Too much influence, too much power over others, and way more than their share of... Everything.