Slavery was never really abolished, it was socialized.
They systematically train people to accept welfare as their way of life. Anyone go to public school in the inner cities? There is no encouragement, they don't even teach addition and subtraction until 1st and 2nd grade.
When I moved to a suburb, I had no idea what half the stuff they were teaching in my new school was. My older school hadn't even taught anyone how to read a clock face, let alone multiplication or division. I saw school papers from a friend in kindergarten with that "advanced math" and couldn't believe they were taught all that so early.
It is drilled into your head from the beginning that it's a rigged game, you cannot succeed, you have to have connections to get anywhere in life, otherwise you are doomed to dead end jobs, if you are one of the lucky ones. They teach you that that's what your "realistic" plans should be. Don't shoot to high.
It's not surprising at all to me. The tax system alone is enough to discourage you. It's hard moving up from lower class to middle, to upper middle, and beyond. The cost of mobility between tax brackets (if you make just $1 beyond your current tax bracket) are:
Moving from 10% to 15%: $ 425.15
Moving from 15% to 25%: $ 7,350.10
Moving from 25% to 28%: $ 14,783.03
Moving from 28% to 33%: $ 34,144.05
Moving from 33% to 35%: $ 75,150.52
How does that not discourage someone who's growing a business? It really sucks when just making a few extra dollars costs you thousands of dollars, especially when it catches you off guard.
Every step of the way, government discourages us from self-reliance and independence. We have to pay a self-employment tax on top of other taxes just for working for ourselves. How is that even justifiable?
It's no wonder so many people just say "fuck it" and give up. It's also no wonder that most don't even try. Every single prime time television block is filled with get rich quick shows that teach people further that the only path to success if pure dumb luck. Ask anyone off the street what trial and error is, and they will either think its some kind of court, or some new law drama on a cable network.
After all that, the most successful self-made people in public are demonized for their success. If you worked for everything you have, starting from nothing, you are the bad guy. If you inherited your money and did nothing for it (and have the XX chromosome), you are celebrated. Just don't go do something stupid, like building upon that inheritance with anything beyond a reality tv show.
