Lebon James gets paid 100s of Millions of dollars for throwing a ball into a hoop. That's a talent he was born with and a skill he has worked very hard at improving. However, if you are 5' 4, have average sized hands, an ordinary jump height and stamina etc... you can train day and night working your ass off (perhaps working even harder than he does) and you will never be able to play NBA basketball.
Telling someone with an IQ in the low 100s, poor parents, a weak public school education and no successful mentor to 'go start his own company and become a millionaire' is like Lebron telling you to go practice dunking a basketball. They can work at it just as hard as you do, they won't succeed. They can work at it much harder than you do... they still won't succeed at it. They lack the aptitude.
So, what shall we do with them?
One big anonymous mass grave?
If you don't want to kill them all off... we ought to find what they can do and help them reach THAT potential, so they can contribute to the best of their ability. When I go to the supermarket they have men and women with down syndrome and other disabilities put my groceries in bags for me. I have never once thought to myself 'wow, that dude is overpaid, look how easy his job is...I bet he has no idea how this supermarket makes payroll ever week! He probably doesn't even pay federal income tax!'
When you encounter people less able than you, you can either look down on them for being less able... or you can be thankful you are more able and take an interest in helping them to contribute what they can to society, even when it is considerably less than you will. That guy with down syndrome at the supermarket has as much to do with my ability to dunk a basketball as 99% of Americans had to do with our economy melting down. It wasn't labor unions, welfare recipients or kids on food stamps who caused our current financial mess. Being annoyed that they get food stamps is as silly as being annoyed at my grocery bagger for not running a hedge fund of his own.
At the supermarket I tip the men and women who put my groceries in bags for me. I may be the only one who does that. The sense of pride in their eyes when I say a simple 'thank you' and give them a few dollars that acknowledges their effort without castigating them for their lack of aptitude is worth every penny.
Unless you are Steve Jobs there are people in this world more capable than you. It is nice when they acknowledge your contributions matter, even though theirs are more significant in the grand scheme of things. It costs very little to respect people and gauge their significance based on their honest best effort rather than their aptitude. When you find tasks for them suitable to their aptitude they can become very profitable parts of society for everyone. When you denigrate them, you weaken society for the sake of nothing more than your own hubris. I am sure my groceries cost more because they hire people to put food in bags instead of having customers just do it ourselves.... but the total cost is still much less than having those less able people left jobless and purposeless.
When Lebron James holds press conferences and tells people how rough it is to be a basketball player making hundreds of millions of dollars with a guaranteed contract to throw a ball in a hoop, it doesn't come off well. A guy making millions who tells a grocery store bag packer that 'he can too if he just opens up his own small business and grows it into a fortune 500 company' comes off sounding just as disingenuous.
You will always be the kid with down syndrome compared to some people and you will be Lebron James compared to others. Unless we are going to start digging those mass graves, we ought to find a way to all get along prosperously.
