The vast majority of the "rich" are beneficiaries of generational wealth. They didn't "figure out how to succeed"; they were literally handed everything they have, without ever having to earn a damned thing.
If your definition of "success" is "being born to the right parents", you're advocating an even more unequal society than the one we already have. That is straight-up feudal.
Do you have a reference for that assertion? According to some quick searches, it seems like that was true in the 70s and earlier, but in the recent decade the majority of millionaires and billionaires are now self-made. Of course, that googling is confirmation bias, so I'm interested in data from the other perspective.
My information also comes from Piketty. I appreciate that my confirmation bias is possibly (probably) also in play. The campaign to smear his work, and muddy the waters around his conclusions, probably makes anything short of re-analyzing all of the primary sources one's self an exercise in appealing to authorities whose positions support one's own.
If your definition of "success" is "being born to the right parents", you're advocating an even more unequal society than the one we already have. That is straight-up feudal.
EDIT: phrasing.