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> weird American pattern

To many Americans it's not weird at all. America (according to them) was founded on principles of individualism which differentiated it from other countries of the time.

It's the same reason Socialist policies are resisted. For better or worse, their idea is that individuals followed by close communities should self-govern and be masters of their own destiny.

Put differently, you can call it 'weird' if you want but 'different' is more apt. America is not an underdeveloped Europe... America is America.

Roughly half. The point is still valid and it's important not to disregard the momentum of that segment of the country

The whole point of OPs remark was the payout is not the reason to work for a startup. (precisely because most startups never end in a payout)

There are many other reasons why a startup would be attractive to some people. Professional autonomy, personal growth and learning, different work culture to name a few. For many people, once you're earning "enough" to cover your expenses the pay difference between employers is worth the trade off.

In the end, unless you're founding the company yourself you're always working "to make someone else rich". That's completely irrelevant to your personal choice of employer.

I could understand the hostility if you approach the subject with unsubstantiated statements like "almost never economically rational".

It would be easier to support the claim that most startup employees earn less over their career than those who only ever work for BigCorp.. Though I've never personally seen data suggesting that's necessarily true. You have to consider length of career, job and city mobility, career mobility, etc.

"Economically rational" does not mean BigCorp > Startup career pay.. it means it's not rational to accept startup career pay. That's a much harder statement to defend (honestly, I don't think it's the case).

Conflating university degrees with the general educational of all citizens is a mistake.

Universities are useful in attaining a particular type of education that is not suited to every highschool graduate. It's fairly clear once you've spent time on an American university campus that not everyone there "needs" to be there on the governments dime for the betterment of society.