[quote=@SleepingSilence]
No one should be penalized for making money and becoming successful. It's a ludicrous idea. 
[/quote]

Echh, this sounds a bit like the law of the jungle tbh. If it is determined that your success is a detriment to your society, then it is reasonable to curb that success. The purpose of a government by the people is that we as a group determine what produces the greatest benefit to the group with the least harm to individual interests. This balancing act is true for pretty much everyone but the most nutty an-cap. The illegality of a ponzi scheme, for instance, is public regulation that curbs the success of an individual for the benefit of the masses.

[quote=@mdk]
My point is the American Dream is totally achievable. 
[/quote]

Upward mobility in itself isn't new, it has existed since the days of Imhotep. That the US and democratic values in general has improved upward mobility from where it was before is absolutely true, but this doesn't mean we have reached the peak. We should do everything we can as a society to ensure that none of our talent gets wasted trying to clear basic hurdles in poverty. That means keeping social stratification from ossifying and creating some sort of neo-feudal situation like what happened to, say, the Romans.