Some trades you just have to throw out the fundamentals . You need to have your 2 fingers planted firmly on the peoples sentimental pulse. That is why he went wrong,he lacks perception, which is an important aspect of trading in today's market.
That is what I said or meant. The OP was inferring that in other countries smart people actually get paid what they are worth. I was disagreeing with that point.
Yeah. In the developing world social mobility is getting better - but nowhere near where it is in the US.
There's this feeling overseas that americans are proud of local social mobility and it is a symbol of the american dream, whereas social mobility in the US is actually lagging other developing countries (I didn't check emerging markets, at least not for a while, but from experience living there, it is probably worse than in the US) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socioeconomic_mobility_in_the_United_States https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/social-mobility-america/491240/ http://www.businessinsider.com/social-mobility-is-on-the-decline-and-with-it-american-dream-2017-7 There are comparative studies with european countries where US fares quite poorly when it comes to social mobility, and social mobility in Europe is far from impressive in many countries.
Yes, you can become rich if you're born poor. Just realize you have the deck stacked against you from the day you're born all the way into adulthood. Doesn't make it impossible to rise in society, it's just a bit harder. At the same time, the rich enjoy numerous advantages: private schools, private tutoring, a valuable social network of relatives and parents, access to highly qualified doctors/psychologists when needed and lots of other benefits. Access to better nutrition, less parental violence and drug abuse, a household stacked with scientific books rather than comic books. If you are born rich (social studies call it 'high socio-economic status') you are way more likely to gain a highly paid job or run a successful company than if you are born poor. In other words: controlling for graduate degree GPAs or IQ, members of the upper class still do better economically by a full standard deviation than their middle class competitors. Which is massive.
Now, the family isn't quite as good, they pay for your love. But, in developmental years a rich family is the best you could get. It also depends on culture. Jewish families, communities, and religious teachers are very tough on adolescents. What does it produce? Diamonds.