> If each citizen is not Bill Gates, it is because they are the victim of circumstance. Other people held them down, the system failed them.
This part of your otherwise insightful comment is a bit ridiculous. Most people's success is determined by how much money their parents had and what schools their parents could afford to send them to. Circumstances have a pretty huge impact, and if our system is intended to minimize the effects of circumstances, it is failing many people.
OK but where did your parents, or their parents, or their parents get the money in the first place?
There are no shortage of examples of people from humble beginnings who're self-made millionaires, and people born into every privilege who squandered it all.
This part of your otherwise insightful comment is a bit ridiculous. Most people's success is determined by how much money their parents had and what schools their parents could afford to send them to. Circumstances have a pretty huge impact, and if our system is intended to minimize the effects of circumstances, it is failing many people.