True, but I would suggest that it is easier for someone born into extreme poverty to get ahead in the US than most other countries in the world and there are too many cases of people who have done it to claim that it isn't possible with good decisions, hard work and a little luck or avoidance of bad luck.
Well, America is in fact and indeed better than a lot of countries. Many successful "self-maders" seem to think, and constantly crow about, how we are so much better than Third World hell-holes. Well DUH! Who isn't? That is always the comparison. The American Way is so much better than someplace a lot worse. Hard to lose that game. That is hardly a ringing endorsement.
We here have also heard of the many other First World democratic, industrial, technological countries more appropriately compared to The U.S. wherein the standard of living is better. The quality of life is better. Opportunity for social and economic advancement is better. Most if not all life-stress indicators are better. But the drawback is, ya see, their billionaires have somewhat fewer billions than our billionaires. Oh the pain of it all. How can they call themselves a free country when everybody has it better but The Rich are somewhat less rich!? I heard an economist giving a spiel somewhere and one line I remembered is:
If you want to live The American Dream, move to Denmark.
While I agree with much of what you wrote OTOH there are too many instances of people who grow up poor who become financially successful to say that the opportunity for the American Dream is dead. There will inevitably be instances of people who do the "right" things and work hard and never make it due to bad luck or one or two bad decisions... and vice versa, there will inevitably be some who succeed in spite of themselves and their decisions. But at the end of the day, IMO if you do the right things and work hard the odds of financial success are on your side... just not guaranteed.
I did not intend to contradict anything you said. No place or system or population is "perfect." Perfectly good
or perfectly bad. You can find people making it in the most inhospitable places. And find people losing fortunes on easy street. e.g. 1930's: Yes, some people became millionaires! 1980/1990's: Lots of people lost their shirts when just DCA into a bond fund would have paid a king's ransom over time. Soviet Union. Some lived like kings! US: Detroit. Lot's of places in Mississippi. Da Bronx And don't think they had it bad because they are all lazy and stupid. And don't think the "Successful" Soviets did it by working hard and being productive.