> For the one person who has "made it" economically, there are countless others that haven't, that still live in one-room houses. What about them?
I think you're overlooking the miracle of capitalism. If it was just about one guy striking it rich, this would be no different than the story of someone winning the lottery or getting a big inheritance from a distant relative.
Instead this is the story of a man who worked hard, studied the market, took risks, and most importantly stayed 100% focused on the mission of delighting the customer. And the result was the creation of a product that improved the lives of millions.
This isn't just the story of Richard Montanez. It's the story of every Korean immigrant who opened a convenience store in an underserved neighborhood. Or the ambitious teen starting a landscaping service. Or the local property taking a gamble to build new housing in a fast growing. Or anyone starting a new restaurant, fashion line, or hotel. Or Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founding Apple in their garage. Or Henry Ford building a car for the middle-class.
All of those improvements slowly but surely accumulate over time. The fortune Montanez accumulated is incredible. But we know his personal wealth is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath it is a a vastly greater amount of wealth that was generated in the form of consumer and investor surplus.
Because the reality is that your great-grandparents almost assuredly lived in a one-room house. And you almost assuredly do not. And almost none of us hustled our way out. Instead we just sat back, and enjoyed a constant stream of endlessly improving products- cheaper, faster, higher quality, more abundant. All powered by singularly-minded people relentlessly focused on delighting the customer. And living standards continue to rise, while global poverty continues to march towards zero That's the true miracle of capitalism.
The percent of the world's population living in absolute poverty has fallen from 94% in 1820 to less than 10% today.[1] That's the greatest miracle in human history.
Yeah, but we discovered oil. Humanity suddenly had unbounded energy to do what it needed to drive machines. Both capitalist and non capitalist systems brought over a billion people out of poverty. USA and Europe on one hand and USSR and China on the other. Behind it all is abundance of energy. It would be a mistake to attribute it to a system like capitalism which never really existed in anything close to a "pure" form anywhere ever.
I love that on the hacker news forum (sponsored by a venture capitalist), users are downvoting someone pointing out the possible meritocracy of capitalism. /s
I think you're overlooking the miracle of capitalism. If it was just about one guy striking it rich, this would be no different than the story of someone winning the lottery or getting a big inheritance from a distant relative.
Instead this is the story of a man who worked hard, studied the market, took risks, and most importantly stayed 100% focused on the mission of delighting the customer. And the result was the creation of a product that improved the lives of millions.
This isn't just the story of Richard Montanez. It's the story of every Korean immigrant who opened a convenience store in an underserved neighborhood. Or the ambitious teen starting a landscaping service. Or the local property taking a gamble to build new housing in a fast growing. Or anyone starting a new restaurant, fashion line, or hotel. Or Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founding Apple in their garage. Or Henry Ford building a car for the middle-class.
All of those improvements slowly but surely accumulate over time. The fortune Montanez accumulated is incredible. But we know his personal wealth is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath it is a a vastly greater amount of wealth that was generated in the form of consumer and investor surplus.
Because the reality is that your great-grandparents almost assuredly lived in a one-room house. And you almost assuredly do not. And almost none of us hustled our way out. Instead we just sat back, and enjoyed a constant stream of endlessly improving products- cheaper, faster, higher quality, more abundant. All powered by singularly-minded people relentlessly focused on delighting the customer. And living standards continue to rise, while global poverty continues to march towards zero That's the true miracle of capitalism.