The Structure of American Society

Rich get richer, poor stay poor, and it seems impossible for middle class citizens to make any headway towards becoming a member of the first group. This has been a fact of life in much of the world as far back as history is documented. So how does this hierarchy survive with the coming and going of generations?

Well, there have always been those lucky enough to be born into wealth. This usually lasts only a few generations as each generation understands less and less of how that wealth was accumulated in the first place. Then there are those that have been lucky enough to start just the right type of business, at just the right time, in just the right location. This method isn't pure luck like being born into wealth is, it requires a good idea and smart implementation, but this is still overshadowed by luck after witnessing many good ideas fail to see something less innovative take it's place with success.

As just a few more examples of luck making people rich, now we have lotteries, casinos, and even stock/commodity traders. All of which require either a lot more luck than skill. So is there a group of people out there that broke the middle class barrier without relying on luck?

Well yes, but it isn't the quick road that we all envision. It seems to be a road full of working multiple jobs and spending little money. The majority of your life is spent living on the lower end of the middle income class while accruing your wealth. It's in your later years or life that you finally break the wealth barrier to become part of the rich crowd.

So why do we strive to achieve that which seems so unlikely? Because most of us want something better for our children and the generations that follow, than we had for ourselves. We don't want them to have to work as hard or go without. We want them to have the free time to enjoy life because we never take the time to do it ourselves. The problem is, our children will want something better for their children too. And thus the cycle of the middle income class that prevents so many of us from ever being happy continues.