> I'm just trying to understand where it is that my family got lucky
Between the inputs and the outputs. For example:
> He came to the US and worked in the forges for Falk in Milwaukee. He didn't speak English, but he worked hard, lived responsibly, and paid for the education of his two children
Plenty of people at the same time put the same inputs of hard work and responsible living in, and got different outcomes due to forces they didn't control. The success of American elites (this is true of capitalism generally, and the greater prosperity of American capitalists compared to much of the rest of the developed West is due specifically to failing tomitigate this aspect of capitalism as much) is built on the precarious position of the working class.
Between the inputs and the outputs. For example:
> He came to the US and worked in the forges for Falk in Milwaukee. He didn't speak English, but he worked hard, lived responsibly, and paid for the education of his two children
Plenty of people at the same time put the same inputs of hard work and responsible living in, and got different outcomes due to forces they didn't control. The success of American elites (this is true of capitalism generally, and the greater prosperity of American capitalists compared to much of the rest of the developed West is due specifically to failing tomitigate this aspect of capitalism as much) is built on the precarious position of the working class.