>> For tribal chiefs, food probably wasn't scarce. For kings and lords, land was not scarce. For industrialists, capital was not scarce.
>On the contrary, kings and lords were acutely aware of how much land they had and devoted much of their energy to amassing more. Likewise for tribal chiefs and food, and presumably likewise for industrial. They had more of it than others, sure, but it was scarce for them: it was the limiting factor on what they were doing.
I'm sure that Bezos or Musk are also acutely aware of their capital, that does not mean that they have any scarcity.
>Right, but at that individual level too, capital isn't really the issue these days. You can get a loan for anything, anyone can get a credit card. If someone wants to improve themselves, it's rarely capital that's the limiting factor - it's more likely to either be time, or something a bit more complicated.
I think you seriously underestimate the difficulties that come with being poor. There are lots of studies that show that the primary problem with poverty is actually lack of funds. There have been many projects that showed that giving poor people money with no strings attached has higher success rates than anything else. Also your advice of getting loans or credit cards is quite unrealistic and shows you the cost of being poor. The loans that a poor person will get are essentially so expensive that the only thing they do is making them poorer.