There is no substitute for hard work (at least not for most people). But there are also policies that make economic opportunity better or worse. I've heard more than a few friends waive that off with the comment saying (more or less) that the market will correct itself. That is used to justify keeping things the way they are and not intervening with government help for particular problems. And it is true, to a point. (And government "help" can also contribute to the problem, or create new problems.)
It's important to remember that the October Revolution (Russia, 1917) and the French Revolution and Reign of Terror were examples of the market correcting itself. One way the market can correct itself is through democratically enacted policy changes. Another way the market can correct itself is through violent revolt. I prefer the prior version to the latter.
Our politics right now show that the market, however one defines it, is in need of some correcting. There is a great deal of frustration right now, which seems to have been growing since the end of the Cold War. Part of that is the lack of an external enemy that feels like an existential threat to our way of life. Those kinds of threats are good for bringing people together, but--kind of like my examples above--I'd rather not resort to global cataclysm to bring us into better political balance. But given the economic indicators we've had over the last thirty years, which have generally been quite good (the 2008 crisis is a notable exception), our current political state should be pretty alarming.
