Earlier quoted context omitted.
BTW, this isn't a moral argument (at least it need not be), practically people cannot invest in anything and yield an actually substantial return. Almost half(E) people in the US cannot weather a $400 emergency without going into debt, how could they possibly have enough money to invest for either themselves or their children? This arguably would be only valuable for people in the middle class to upper middle class.…
If one has internet, one can invest in oneself through education in very tangible lucrative ways. Never before has access to so much knowledge been available from MIT courses to marketing books, much of which is free.
Understand, there are people in this country who have been working since 16 to provide for themselves, they work for less than 9 dollars an hour, and still pay rent, utilities, medical bills, car payments and more. They didn't have hours during summer to sit around and play video games that they could have spent watching MIT courses instead. They today, still don't have the time to game the system and get ahead that others have.
The ability to get ahead by shear will is far beyond the will and patience most people who write medium posts about coder burnout have to contend with, the difference is instead of possibly not becoming a more well off person with higher net worth, the possibility is dying or incurring more debt.
Regardless, even if single individuals can get ahead, that's fine and commendable in some sense, but there will be many more who won't, the shear majority won't because the system itself produces these circumstances, and in fact, profits off it. What we see is the function of the way we set up companies and society in general.