[brianwski]

> Capitalism does not reward hard work. Smart work, maybe, but not hard work.

I'd say a person successful/rewarded in a capitalistic society (defined by accruing more wealth than they started with and not just spending down some large family inheritance they were born into) probably has some combination of: luck, smart (intelligent) decisions, hard word, probably has a good "setup" going into the working world like parents didn't abuse them growing up and at least helped pay for their education, etc. Maybe that last one is just a subset of luck, we certainly do not choose our parents.

Sure, you can be missing one of the above list and do Ok, but probably not two. Statistically a smart, hard working person who had the world's crappiest upbringing probably won't be that successful compared with somebody who had all three going for them. But if you look at 20 "success stories" it is extremely rare the person didn't work hard. I think it's an important component of being rewarded in capitalism. It does a disservice to people to say "slacking off or working hard results in identical outcomes".

To support at least half of your point, you cannot be stupid and work hard and be successful. But a smart person who works hard will most likely do better than a smart person who doesn't work hard.

[LordDragonfang]

>you cannot be stupid and work hard and be successful.

Unless you are born into wealth, of course. One of your three/four criteria. Lots of examples of people grifting and grinding to fail upwards who have no special talent or intelligence of their own. Some are very powerful, even.