The assumption which seems to underly this statement (that failing to keep up signifies some kind of personal inferiority) is fallacious. The fact of the matter is that around 40% of Americans end up in the same income quintile as their parents. Extreme moves in either direction are rare; 4% in the bottom quintile will move to the top and 8% in the top will fall to the bottom. So in fact a large part of someone's ability to "keep up" (e.g., not be poor) depends on whether they were born into wealth in the first place. No matter what level they're born at, most people don't move very far.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socioeconomic_mobility_in_the_...