[mookiemookie]

$2.10 in the 1970s went a lot farther than $7.25 does today. Gas, housing and food was all cheaper on an inflation adjusted basis. Not to mention that in the 70's only about 10% of young people had a college degree. Now it's around 25%. Finding a job that pays a livable wage without a college degree is a lot harder than it was back then.

The idea that "everyone can be rich if they just worked harder" just doesn't work. It's simple math. You can't have a society where every electrician, cop, teacher, construction worker, gardener, waiter, plumber, secretary and everyone else that's needed for society to, you know, function makes $100,000 a year. Telling people that they need to shut the hell up because they're lazy and I pulled myself up by my bootstraps all by myself is a simplistic mindset that ignores the reality of the way the world actually works.

Intentionally conflating the idea of "anyone can be rich" and "everyone can be rich" is bad form.