[rgifford]

> ...we should think about how we can help more people become successful.

It's like you're purposefully missing the point.

What if most of serious wealth and success is decided at birth? What are the logical consequences of that?

Let's go extreme: A rich guy wins the lottery. He then tells everyone in town how they could've won if they bought tickets. What's your reaction?

> Even poor people today live better than kings in the past.

I generally agree with this on quantitative measures of productive or technological progress. Other quantitative measures don't look so great: education, housing and healthcare costs; health (esp. mental health) issues in developed vs developing nations; prison populations in the present vs past.

Michael Foucalt has better arguments to make here than I do [1].

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBJTeNTZtGU