[opinali]

"Working hard doesn't entitle you to anything." -- well said. I am a software engineer, I always worked hard and I have a good income; but I'm by no means rich and most likely will never be, mostly because I've got no entrepreneurial genes. But that's alright, I think people who (besides the hard work) take high risks by creating new companies or even working their asses off in a startup that may or may not succeed, deserve an extra reward.

OTOH, the poor schmucks who work in the car wash a few blocks of my house, so I can have my car cleaned for $9 even in the winter with temperature below freezing? I would say they work much harder than me. And very likely they always did, they were already sweating over some soul-crushing job when they were teenagers (or even earlier), while at that age I had the privilege of being fully dedicated to my education. Not to mention always having a good and stable life -- food, healthcare, parents who had the means to care for me, etc.

Simple truth is that inequality of opportunities is huge. Another poster mentioned Bill Gates, well I don't take his merit away but Gates was the son of a wealthy attorney and a wealthier banker. Even Bill's entrepreneurship is something that can be attributed at least in part to the fact that he had a very good safety net to fall -- if he failed, he wouldn't exactly be screwed for a decade with debt.