Most HN users are (I presume) well off people with comfy jobs and good savings. It's very hard for some people to cope with the idea that in economic success most/lots/much is due to luck: natural abilities, where one was born, when/how/why one enters the market, what disasters/opportunities befall them etc. It's not easy to admit that maybe the positions we have in life are actually not justified after all.

That is just not true.

Most Americans (but also Europeans to a much lesser extent) defend that obscene wealth. They don't want to tax the rich. They don't want immigration. They don't want to see poverty in their cities.

If society had grown to stop blaming poverty, they would start blaming the super rich for stealing the money out of the society.

Just reading now, but sure, I’ll risk the downvotes.

I agree that the American societal zeitgeist has certainly not evolved to a point where we acknowledge luck as a major factor in personal success.

Personal success is attributed to the talent and persistence of the individual.

Personal failures are attributed to character flaws of the individual.

In the US we lionize billionaires because we believe if we are smart enough and work hard enough we could become one. We spare no thought for the role of luck in the rise of a billionaire.

But if we work hard and don’t become a billionaire, best believe it’s somebody else’s fault.