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A comment on 93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by the top 10%. Parent comment

Re:93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by th... by toomuchtodo on Thursday January 11, 2024 @04:09PM (#38959109)
People don't want to be told the world is a meritocracy when it's roulette (born to the right people in the right place), but so much of the system operates under the meritocracy/exceptionalism belief system (American dream, effort and skill will lead to success, anyone can succeed), and if people see it for what it is, lots of people are not a fan of the changes that will occur. "They live" [1] for a suboptimal economic arrangement. "You aren't successful? Have you tried working harder? Being smarter? Knowing the right people? Getting a better job?" [2] [3]

Wealthy people want to stay wealthy, powerful people don't want to give up power. Everything else is a struggle over the collective spreadsheet. "Should life be more fair? If so, what does that look like?" is what keeps all of this in perpetual tension.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ijiLqfXP0

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38070159

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by th... by TacticalCoder on Thursday January 11, 2024 @04:20PM (#38959252)
> People don't want to be told the world is a meritocracy when it's roulette (born to the right people in the right place)...

Look at it from the perspective of the parents. My kid is my kid because I decided to have it and it's got 50% of my DNA. I decided to not have my kid in my Somalia. Just as my parents decided not to have me in Somalia.

And all around me I see how so many parents making terrible life choices.

I'm teaching my kid to answer "blame your parents".

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by th... by saagarjha on Thursday January 11, 2024 @04:35PM (#38959465)
“Only the well off living in stable countries should have children” is an awfully dystopian viewpoint, don’t you think?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by th... by hospitalJail on Friday January 12, 2024 @07:44AM (#38967337)
I dont think there is anything wrong with safety nets, but I think its silly to think that over 50% of the world is going to live like kings when the work like fast food laborers.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by th... by hospitalJail on Friday January 12, 2024 @07:42AM (#38967323)
The world will operate under a meritocracy because Nature/capitalism has deemed it the most effective.

We can't play roulette with our leadership. There is a reason monarchies are good as dead.

[ Parent | on HN ]