[collinmcnulty]

Tangential a bit, but I grate at using “elite” as a synonym for “rich”. It adopts the framing favored by powerful people as if they have an inherent difference and aren’t just some people that society allows to have more resources. It promotes a false inevitability.

[jayers]

Well elite and rich are actually different categories. The guy down in my parents suburban neighborhood who started a carpentry business at 18 and is now 45 years old and a millionaire is in a very different category from someone who went to Harvard Law and became a partner at a massive firm in Manhattan, even if their net worth is similar.

Plenty of normal folks start businesses in various industries and get rich off of it. You can make tens of millions of dollars running a restaurant chain, a trades business, manufacturing, a car repair shop, car dealership etc. But those are not elite jobs.

[collinmcnulty]

I would argue it’s a matter of degree, not of kind. “Private equity” is a rhetorical device to convert “I run an unglamorous business” into “I’m the kind of person who gets the private tour”. All the status stuff can be bought.