Overwhelming majority of top earners are self-made and did not inherit their wealth.

[ora shinchan]

Where do you think "ability" comes from?

[Cry to God]

incomes for the top 1% have gone up radically despite lower GDP growth, lower profits, lower stock performance

if the companies are paying more money for top positions, the workers aren't earning it

its charity

[:)Gabby(:]

Education does not equal ability.

[Lokesh]

"Upper class" refers to only the top 1%?

[<3cute, young and wild!<3]

Ability in almost never required except for a very thin slice of the wealthy such as surgeons or professional athletes

[Pokemon Trainer]

you gunna be poor forever

[Jafch1]

In 2011, if you were to go to your high school reunion and go "Yeah, I'm rich and successful"

Everyone there would assume you had at least $1 million net worth, and somewhere over $200,000 a year in income, or less income but a higher net worth

That is more or less top 5%

But the top 5% is full of much more talent than the top 1%

[FairyScarlet]

It affects ones ability to do the things I listed. Plain and simple. I never said you didn't say that that education mattered/did matter. I pointed out that it helps with the "ability" to do things.

The irony is that I'm making this point when I myself am not a college graduate yet make much more money than many of my frienRAB that have their masters. The ability I'm good at is the ability to sell products. If you can sell you'll never be unemployed for any real period of time and will almost always have employers knocking on your door. Heck, I get recruitement calls to come work for companies in California, New York, Arizona, Minnesota, etc.. on a weekly basis. And these are supposed to be states where it is impossible to find work. Weird.

[claudett0829]

What's the angle on this thread? none of this is news for people who have delt with anyone with a decent amount of money, or has any interest in that segment of the population.

I would say to take stats like these with a grain of salt, because quite a bit of the ultra-wealthy don't advertise their worth, and put considerable effort into hiding it - be it trusts, physical assets, or something else.

[Priscilla K]

Except for that small portion of the population which neeRAB it(sciences/med), education is completely unrelated to applicable skills in a field. Which is something OT never seems to accept or understand, but that's probably due to how over-represented people in those fielRAB(and lifetime student types) are on here.