[Iftheshoefits]

You're missing the point. The qualification you describe in your last sentence excludes the overwhelming majority of people anywhere, but especially in the U.S., and it does so by pure (bad) luck and accident of birth. That is to say, the qualification you note is either a polite way to say, "Non-rich, or affluent, or already-connected need not apply," or an incredibly obtuse equivocation. As a result, for example, the subject of the article that started this thread is not in the same set with people who can accurately be described as "normal."

[argonaut]

No, you're missing the point. Success in any field requires time or money (or some combination of both). You want to be a Nobel Prize winning scientist? You're going to need lots of time to become an expert in your field, publish papers, AND run experiments. You want to become an actor? You'll have to spend enormous amounts of time running around doing auditions, trying to find work.

And that's exactly it. The overwhelming majority of the world will never start a startup. Or become a top scientist. And those that do grow up in poverty but start businesses / become academics / other success have time to spend studying/being entrepreneurs, and those that have little time because of other obligations but still manage to do these things have to make enormous time sacrifices.

The world isn't egalitarian, and it's wishful thinking to think it is.