The piece makes some sense to me. Growing up in the 50's and after, I became aware of an interesting observation: it seemed like people coming here from other countries started life working in sweatshops, the garment district and the like, but eventually ended up owning the companies. Just an observation. When I mentioned that to a high school teacher (forgot which), she said words to this effect: people come to this country with visions of greatness, and they keep those visions; people who grow up here (the U.S.) live with the problems at hand and don't see the potential.