[addicted]

"Smart hard working people succeed much more often than they don't."

A smart hard working person today might be a hard working computer scientist.

Their skills would be absolutely worthless even a few centuries ago. Their skills would be absolutely worthless even today depending on where they are born and to the parents they are born.

I'm not convinced "smart and hard working" are not post hoc descriptors themselves.

[ebola1717]

Plus, that sentiment is only true with a narrow set of upper middle class, white collar assumptions. What about hard working retail workers or factory workers? Or look how vast the race and gender disparities are...

[Exo_Tartarus]

Maybe they don't want to be anything other than retail or factory workers?

Many people don't have ambition, or they have limited ambition.

[timthelion]

maybe they don't want to be anything other than factory workers. That doesn't mean that they are fundamentally less valuable and less worthy of being paid their fair share.

[Exo_Tartarus]

What's their fair share? You think you're worthy to determine that?