Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

shift.newco.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 374 posts

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#131

Post by bduerst »

googletazer wrote: post #94
oatmealsnap wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've comparing the success of one poor sob with the success of a lineage of rich/poor sobs. It's much easier to be rich than to get rich, because a lineage has several shots to make it big.

When society becomes too rigid for social mobility then of course it becomes a huge problem, but at the same time, if you do become wealthy - wouldn't you want your kids to have it easier and give them any advantage you possibly can? Grants for entrepreneurs/basic income could be a good idea to boost the chances of those at the very bottom, but it probably won't come to pass. First, who would willingly part with thei…

>wouldn't you want your kids to have it easier and give them any advantage you possibly can?

You're missing the point. It isn't that the wealthy are being incriminating for "wanting their kids to have it easier".

They're pointing out that the success for kids born into wealth is typically attributable to family money.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#132

Post by hueving »

st3v3r wrote: post #100
nugget wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Going from $0 to $1M is almost impossible--going from $1M to $2M is almost inevitable. I know plenty of people who inherited money and blew it all. Very, very few people, even children from ''rich'' families, have an ''infinite money cushion''. People who come from poverty or communities rampant with discrimination often times have to work harder for opportunities. But hard work is hard work, and there is fierce co…

If they're talking like the person that was described was talking, I absolutely would take away from their success, especially because they've never had to worry about any of the stuff that someone who doesn't come from means has to worry about. Don't get me wrong; finding success is hard, and whenever someone does find it, it should be celebrated. But those that do find it shouldn't discount the struggles of those w…

>I absolutely would take away from their success

Why? Because they are an asshole about it? That doesn't reduce their success in any way. If they have offset the losses of their previous endeavors, they have provided a net gain and it's still a success.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#133

Post by jimmywanger »

This is precisely the reason why affirmative action/outreach efforts should be based on socioeconomic status, not race or gender.

This vietnamese guy has hard a much harder time of it than any black, middle class, female growing up in a nice middle class suburb, but he's the one who's discriminated against during college admission and job interviews, and applications for scholarships and coding academies and such.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#134

Post by cmdrfred »

>you can start a business with your $1 million inherited wealth, but it has an extremely high probability of failing without hard work.

That's why you don't start a business dummy, you work with a money manager and have him invest it and after 30 years of average market returns you get to brag about how 'successful' and 'hardworking' you are.

>I'm not even sure what your point is. GP was pointing out that competition at every level is fierce. Not sure what that has to do with the Foxconn employee. Are they known for not being competitive?

You claim a child in China has the same access to opportunities as the son of a hedge fund manager? He won't have to work any harder to get in the same position?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#135

Post by hueving »

ap22213 wrote: post #128
hueving wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not aware of any place on earth where someone who has $24 million in wealth is considered 'middle class'. That's $180,000 annually at a measly 0.75% interest (what my peon savings bank currently gives) for doing absolutely nothing. If you can quit your job and ride on 180k passive, risk-free income, you're not middle class.

You're not alone - trust me. Most people don't believe me. But, then, I grew up in a place where many if not most household incomes are less than $15k / year. It's all relative though - I have enough saved up to probably live as a rich man in probably 99% of the earth. Yet, I keep pushing myself to get into the upper class of a minuscule area of the world. It's kind of screwed up.

Sorry, I should have been stricter with my phrasing.

There is no place on earth where you can consider yourself middle class only having $24m in net worth. What you are referring to is likely a small community filled with people with net worths above $100m, but that doesn't change the class level because of what I pointed out. If you can quit your job and make 6 figures off of interest, you are not middle class anymore wherever you live.

Just because you can't afford a penthouse apartment in downtown Manhattan doesn't mean you are middle class.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#136

Post by googletazer »

bduerst wrote: post #131
googletazer wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When society becomes too rigid for social mobility then of course it becomes a huge problem, but at the same time, if you do become wealthy - wouldn't you want your kids to have it easier and give them any advantage you possibly can? Grants for entrepreneurs/basic income could be a good idea to boost the chances of those at the very bottom, but it probably won't come to pass. First, who would willingly part with thei…

>wouldn't you want your kids to have it easier and give them any advantage you possibly can? You're missing the point. It isn't that the wealthy are being incriminating for "wanting their kids to have it easier". They're pointing out that the success for kids born into wealth is typically attributable to family money.

>They're pointing out that the success for kids born into wealth is typically attributable to family money.

That's pretty obvious to me, it wasn't obvious to you?

I don't think any of the newly rich, such as say - Zuck were hiding these facts. Zuck went to Harvard, an elite school, and got 100k from the bank of mom and dad to work on his own thing.

The issue is that this data doesn't filter to the masses. Since it doesn't filter to the masses we now have a cult of "entrepreneur porn" where anybody can grab themselves by the bootsraps and become the new Zuck. I think with a little reflection most people know that this is false, however they've deluded themselves otherwise.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#137

Post by [deleted] »

allovera wrote: post #87
mixmastamyk wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, now you can forgive yourself and be proud of what you've accomplished and will continue to.

I find the opposite - I'm deeply ashamed about growing up in poverty and rarely admit it. When it comes up, I find it creates distance between myself and my co workers. They get uncomfortable and I always feel like they think I am judging them somehow. I don't seem poor anymore: thousands of dollars on dental care, I dress OK, I have a fairly polished accent now. I don't talk to most of my family. My old friends live…

[deleted]

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#138

Post by mikestew »

ap22213 wrote: post #128
hueving wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not aware of any place on earth where someone who has $24 million in wealth is considered 'middle class'. That's $180,000 annually at a measly 0.75% interest (what my peon savings bank currently gives) for doing absolutely nothing. If you can quit your job and ride on 180k passive, risk-free income, you're not middle class.

You're not alone - trust me. Most people don't believe me. But, then, I grew up in a place where many if not most household incomes are less than $15k / year. It's all relative though - I have enough saved up to probably live as a rich man in probably 99% of the earth. Yet, I keep pushing myself to get into the upper class of a minuscule area of the world. It's kind of screwed up.

You're not alone - trust me. Most people don't believe me.

It might help if you actually stated where you live. As it stands, you're talking about your girlfriend who "goes to a different school". Which school, and what's her name?

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#139

Post by aninhumer »

dismantlethesun wrote: post #124
aninhumer wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it takes "character" to handle money. It's a skill like any other, and people who grow up with wealth have more opportunity to learn that skill.

What's meant by character is that your skills with money management won't tell you where to spend money when its discretionary, and what level to set your discretionary shares at. Some people will fritter away their wealth on useless things, even if they know that they can make guaranteed returns by investing in X. Some people will continually reinvest in bad ventures, each time thinking the risk is worth it. There's…

>your skills with money management won't tell you where to spend money when its discretionary, and what level to set your discretionary shares at.

Yes they will? That's an aspect of money management.

>There's no skill to say what is too much risk. That's a judgement call that everyone has to make for themselves.

By even framing the decision in these terms, you're already displaying far more experience in money management than many people have had opportunity to acquire.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#140

Post by hueving »

cmdrfred wrote: post #134

>you can start a business with your $1 million inherited wealth, but it has an extremely high probability of failing without hard work. That's why you don't start a business dummy, you work with a money manager and have him invest it and after 30 years of average market returns you get to brag about how 'successful' and 'hardworking' you are. >I'm not even sure what your point is. GP was pointing out that competition…

>That's why you don't start a business dummy, you work with a money manager and have him invest it

That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about people that built businesses.

>You claim a child in China has the same access to opportunities as the son of a hedge fund manager?

No one claimed that anywhere in this thread. Take your strawman fight elsewhere.

Post reply on HN