World's richest woman says poor should have less fun, work harder. Calls for lower minimum wage and tax cuts

[HappySqurriel]

Immortal said:

I don't think I can argue with you very well given my relative lack of knowledge, but, going by the argument presented by the other member who quoted me, education is evidently much better and more effective for rich people, leading us back to poor people being born in a situation which won't let them get anywhere.

As for your anecdote, while there are obviously people who manage to get far against the odds, they are normally considered the exception. For every story about self-made millionaires (or even the less extravagant climbed-up-the-economic-ladder stories), you'd probably be faced with a dozen anecdotes from the other side telling you about people who are working/have worked insanely hard, are trying/have tried to follow the classic recipes to economic success and are still getting nowhere.

By the way, I'm honestly not completely sure if I disagree with you. Since I'm slightly left-leaning on this subject, I'm just keen to get the opposition's perspective here.

I don't doubt that lots of poor people work hard, and I generally would not say the path to success is simply working harder, but where their efforts are directed are often very wasteful. Working 60 hours a week as a janitor (to pick a low paying job) is certainly working hard but it is not going to result in improving your standard of living beyond what it provides in cash. In contrast, working 40 hours per week as a Janitor plus putting in 16 hours a week to take 2 courses at the community college will likely improve your earning potential in the long run.