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Wealth concentration and upward mobility aren’t the same thing you can have both at once. The top 1% held ~25% of U.S. wealth in the 1920s and ~30% today, but in that same span median real income more than doubled and life expectancy jumped ~20 years. The pie isn’t fixed. Second, the original argument isn’t “getting rich is easy” it’s “it’s possible, and telling kids it isn’t discourages the ones who’d try.” Citing a concentration stat doesn’t answer that. The relevant question is: can someone from an immigrant family in 2026 build a billion-dollar company? Empirically, yes: Brian Chesky (Airbnb), Jensen Huang (NVIDIA), Patrick Collison (Stripe), Jan Koum (WhatsApp, who was on food stamps). These aren’t isolated statistical flukes; they’re a continuous class of founders showing up every year. Third, calling this “bs to pacify the masses” gets the logic backwards. Who actually gets pacified by believing effort is pointless? The “the system is rigged, don’t bother” narrative is what demobilizes people because anyone who internalizes it doesn’t try. Gary isn’t saying “everything’s fine”; he’s saying “don’t discourage the kid in the Bronx who could build something.” You can believe wealth concentration is a serious problem (defensible position) and still think telling young people “you can’t rise” is destructive. The two points don’t cancel each other out.