To Anyone saying the Rich "Work Hard and are Smart"

[NashvilleLefty]

Ok, so you must be rich! You must make at least a million a year!

No? Then you must make at least $250k a year.

No? Then what's wrong with you? Are you stupid? Are you lazy?

If all it takes to get rich in this country is to work hard, then why aren't all the hard-workers like YOU rich?

What about all those kids born into money, who never have to work hard for anything? Why should they get a better education than people born to poor parents- especially when those poor people are smarter and actually work harder?

Maybe those children born to rich parents have better genes? Maybe there really is something to Social Darwinism. But, wasn't that the basis of Feudalism? Should we return to a Feudalistic society? Many rich people seem to think we should. Even though the American colonies fought against such thinking, perhaps it was better since that seems to be the direction that many Americans support.

Never mind new reports that demonstrate that Rich People tend to be less empathetic. That doesn't mean that to be rich in our society you have to be willing to stab everyone else in the back. Oh, No! Those multiple reports only prove commonality, not causality.

Of course, we could use a little common sense. At one time, our nation had the promise of exploring new territory which drove our economy. After WW2 when our borders had been firmly established, our economy flourished because the Upper Class was contained and the Middle Class was encouraged. Interesting side-note, the Upper-class flourished because of the flourishing of the middle-class.

So, in the long-run the Rise of the Middle-Class will also benefit the Upper-class.

But the Upper-class doesn't care, but that's long-term benefits. And the upper-class doesn't care about long-term benefits, only short-term.

Did we make a profit in this Quarter?

Dumb-asses.

[gollygee]

1. People who start with little and become rich probably do work hard and probably are smart

But there are plenty of smart hard workers who don't become rich as well.

Obama's point was that there are opportunities available in America because of our society and infrastructure, including things that were paid for with taxes. Not that people who are rich aren't smart or don't work hard. Not that working hard and being smart aren't part of what it takes to build a business. Not that all smart people who work hard should be rich, or that people who aren't rich aren't smart or don't work hard. Only that what we as individuals do is partly due to us as individuals, and partly due to what we have done together as a country.

[NashvilleLefty]

2. Actually, those who work hard DON'T advance.

If you want to "get ahead" in this economy, you have to be willing to stab the next guy in the back. Hard work and Intelligence is NOT rewarded, ruthlessness is.

For a society who claims to be moral, we reward immorality.

[WillowTree]

4. That isn't always true. Nice generalization, though.

[unblock]

5. "hard work" and "intelligence" are only 2 factors, which makes it hard to be conclusive.

for most people, hard work and intelligence is modestly rewarded. you become a favored employee, you get modest raises and maybe even a promotion or two. so your life improves, but only modestly. sometimes very modestly.

many jobs reward "skills" that are highly intangible and the business or the employer doesn't care if you worked really hard and smart to get those skills or if you were born with them, or if you were lucky to have a daddy who trained you that way. many times the "team leader" is not the hardest worker or the smartest worker, but the biggest suckass or the best cheerleader or the biggest asshole.


one of the confusing factors is that if you DON'T work hard and you DON'T work smart, you're almost sure to get nowhere. consequently, almost everyone who has amassed a huge fortune HAS worked hard and smart. so it's easy to credit that with your success.

but many other factors come into play, and for many who strike it rich, having the dumb luck to be in the right place at the right time is often a HUGE part of it.

imagine if bill gates were born 200 years earlier. he most likely would have been useless, or at least a nobody.


of course there are many other factors as well. charisma, presence, leadership ability, for instance. and a big help is a lack of conscience. that willingness to steer disproportionate credit and money toward yourself at the expense of all those to whom you should be grateful.

[NashvilleLefty]

8. Very insightful post, with some very good points! But

let's consider a different POV, one that is from real life, just as an example.

Donald Trump.

I am more than willing to admit that the Donald's father was brilliant, and probably deserved the empire that he built pretty much from scratch.

The Donald inherited it along with a silver spoon, and proceeded to run it into the ground and lose everything that his father had built. Luckily for The Donald, there were a lot of successful people who liked his father and 'invested' (gave) The Donald lots of money because of his father.

The Donald used that money to screw a lot of less fortunate people.

I watched his show on occasion, but I could not watch it on a regular basis because it encouraged people to stab each other and it was completely contrary to every legitimate business practice I had ever learned in practice.

I thought that The Donald was an idiot. I still do. Nothing he has done publicly would make me change my opinion.

Yet, he is a billionaire and respected by many. Because of his Daddy's friends. And because he was willing to stab other's in the back.

Yes, that is but one story - but there are so many that are so similar......

[CBHagman]

3. I think of David McCullough and Michael Sandel have said...

...about notions of merit and being self-made.

http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/david-mccullough-lecture

History teaches that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman, that we are all shaped by the influences of others, including so many we've never seen because they are back there in history.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/arts/television/26sandel.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

In class, affirmative action arouses the strongest feelings, Mr. Sandel said, because students, who have worked very hard to reach Harvard, believe their own merit is being rewarded. They are disquieted, he said, by the philosopher John Rawls’s idea that many of their advantages have nothing to do with merit: American citizenship, fortunate family circumstances, a society that values what they are good at, whether it is telling jokes or having a great jump shot.

He tells the class that many psychologists think that birth order makes a lot of difference in one’s work ethic and degree of striving, and then asks: “How many here are first in birth order?” There are gasps and laughter. About 80 percent in the auditorium raise their hands. “Is it your doing that you are first in birth order?,” he continues.

That moment, Mr. Sandel said, is often “a turning point” in getting students to question their own deeply held assumptions.

[NashvilleLefty]

9. That is awesome,

and so much for everyone to think about.

[B Calm]

6. No one ever gets rich for hard work, all it

takes to get rich is to not have a conscience!

[emilyg]

7. The only 2

very rich men I know - hard workers and honest - very honest.

[NashvilleLefty]

10. They are out there!

There are some people who actually make a lot of money by being smart and working hard.

Unfortunately, there are only a very few. Our Society is designed to reward those who screw everyone else. It is NOT designed to reward those who actually work hard.

Contrary to the shouts of some......

[bluegrass]

12. Not sure I am buying that.

I don't know if I buy this. I am a CPA intent on opening my own firm some day, but in my current position I have worked with many small business owners who have done quite well for themselves by working smart. On the other hand, my girlfriend's dad ran a business for decades and it went under (he was left with nearly nothing), but there are many decisions he made along the way that would constitute poor business strategy: not retaining earnings and reinvesting it into growth, targeting the wrong market segments, not communicating his services properly, etc. He worked very hard every day for 30 years, and he is a very smart man, but he lacked the tactical thinking required for running a successful business.

I agree with the sentiment that nobody builds something completely on their own, and that other factors play a part in success. However, I have known several people who have built successful businesses and made some good money (leading to very comfortable, but by no means lavish lifestyles) by playing the game honestly.

[Tom Ripley]

11. "If you're so smart, how come you ain't rich?"

Eudora Welty captured that mindset perfectly.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. "The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor." Voltaire