[BlameKaneda]

> I also met some wealthy people who didn't talk like that...I learned that some actually earned their way there. They grew up poor, worked hard, went to school, worked harder, had some luck by being in the right place at the right time with the right set of skills, and eventually became wealthy.

I have to ask, but how many of these people have had the mindset that "X is poor because they're not working hard enough" or "I worked hard which is why I'm not poor, why can't Y be that way?"

If I had to guess, a good number of them have had those thoughts in the past, but whether or not they still think like that or they've moved on (and have admitted---to themselves or to others---that it's a negative viewpoint) is hard to say.

[jonnylynchy]

You may be right. I never asked what they thought about poor people or the reasons they were poor. It would be a good conversation to have. Knowing what I know about some of those people, I would guess their response would be something along the lines of "It's possible for many people to earn and work their way up IF they make wise choices along the way and don't give up. It's not easy by any means."

The rich who had it handed to them likely wouldn't even have a thought like that cross their minds. It's more like "Oh... huh, poor people? Yeah, I don't know. What's poor?"