Statistically, the thing that best predicts your wealth is.....your parents' wealth.
Duh, but the American Dream isn't about the mean statistics and correlation of factors. It's about the extraordinary, and the outliers. A person will on average be as wealthy as their parents, but as long as the opportunity is there to far exceed that prediction using good ideas and hard work, the American Dream remains intact.
Big government policies tend to limit that opportunity, and strengthen the inertia of wealth (rich get richer, poor get poorer).
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_foolmo_
'To be foolmo'd is to be better opinion'd.' - Blairville