We had already shaken up a lot of the telecommunications industry. We’d ruffled a lot of feathers. AT&T had gone to the government to shut us down. For that matter, whole countries were passing laws against us and trying to close us down. We’d also offended moralists against pornography on the Net, phone companies fighting against unlimited flat-rate Internet access, long-distance providers scared of Internet telephony. The powerful entrenched interests were all against us. We were getting way too big for our britches. A nasty innuendo here, a well-placed confidential badmouthing phone call there, and we’d be finished. I couldn’t stop trying, but I wouldn’t be terribly surprised when the ax fell either.

Now, I’m not saying that there’s no fluidity between the classes or that people born poor and unconnected don’t get rich and rise to the top. It happens all the time, and much more often in America than anywhere else. But it’s not that simple.

There are two main reasons people are able to move up through class lines. The first is that ambitious, talented young people simply can’t be kept down. The aspirations of everyone not born to privilege to move up creates such pressure that if society wouldn’t allow hardworking talented individuals upward mobility, society would explode. In America particularly, upward mobility is one of the basic beliefs on which our society is built. The reality of this mobility is the main glue that, in fact, holds society together. Better to get rich than get the rich, so to speak.

The second reason for upward mobility is that the upper class needs to be periodically enriched by the creativity and talent of the rest of society if they hope to stay on top. This is true both on the personal and economic levels. The upper classes need the most educated and talented people to enrich their gene pool, just as they need new entrepreneurial businesses and business approaches to reinvigorate the economy and make it more competitive.

These rationales for class mobility create different mechanisms for this mobility. First there are large parts of the economy that are understood by all classes to be sort of free for all zones. Places where established wealth has no inherent advantage and all that matters is hard work, guts, and ability. These are industries like real estate development, filmmaking, retailing, and the high-class restaurant business. These businesses are a reflection of the creative personality and drive of the entrepreneur behind it.

This winds up being good for everybody. Steven Spielberg movies and Donald Trump buildings help the economy to boom and create new wealth. This wealth is used to buy more from the establishment part of the economy. Not only that, but the notion that anyone can make it is reinforced, preventing class hatred from tearing society apart and providing an outlet for the talents of those not born rich.

Another way talented strivers can succeed without threatening the established order is to invent a whole new field of enterprises where none existed before. Obviously, if there were no competing enterprises there before, no one is threatened. Just invent automobiles, word processing, or in-line skates and you’re an instant mogul. A new branch of the established order overnight. Again, this is good for everyone. Other strivers will take heart from your success, the establishment will supply you with many of your production needs, the whole economy will boom, and everyone will get richer.