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John Catsimatidis
Apr. 3rd, 2015 10:34 pmJohn C., as we'll call him, happens to be the owner and a board member of United Refining Company. Today, while I was conversing with one of my friends, I decided to look up a little info on him (I get huge kicks out of reading "early life and career" sections of wikipedia articles on rich, famous, and powerful people - Rick started this whole deal with Karl Rove today.)
Currently, his Networth is 3.1 Billion dollars. I'm fairly certain he's a Forbes 500.
He was born on a small Greek island, and his parents moved to the US when he was 6 months old (NYC/Harlem.) He graduated from a NYC public high school specializing in engineering, mathematics and science (they have those? My public school specialized in nothing, and barely had any funding whatsoever. We had books printed in the mid 80s.) His father worked as a busboy. John C. received a congressional nomination to West Point (presumably, his parents weren't natural born citizens and had no connections - this is where things get fishy.) but instead of attending West Point, he went to college to study electrical engineering. He worked at a grocery store with his uncle "Tony" (Mafia anyone?) at this time. About the time he was entering his second year of university, Tony sold him half of the store (and he paid for this how?) he then proceeded to purchase another grocery store immediately after that. He dropped out of university. Within a couple years, he had bought a few more stores.
Wikipedia quotes him as saying that by the time he was 24, he was earning 1 million dollars a year (in 1972.)
Now even with as few details as this, I want to point out - this is a story of what essentially amounts to winning the lottery, or, alternatively, criminal enterprise. The idea that a 19-20 year old could afford to purchase half of a store in a major US city (or have the credit to do so?) is by itself, questionable. But to be able to nearly immediately after that purchase a /whole store/ and then within two years after that, purchase numerous more - and be making 1 million/year within five years...is literally insane. It's impossible, by the rules, okay? I don't think there's any question in that.
There's things left out of this story - like how maybe his parents were incredibly wealthy already and footed the bill (and his dad never was a busboy.) Or how he traded oil illegally with the Russian mafia to get started (heard that story from an old-timer at United.)
I really do reckon, and I really do -truly- believe, that most people who end up like Catsimatidis had a lot more on their side than good ol' determination and willpower to succeed. A hell of a lot more. And one needn't look far to see examples of individuals with a hell of a lot of intelligence and potential who can't even get a foot off the ground.
If you ask me nowadays, I'd tell you - life is mostly a lottery. There are things you can learn and skills you can build, and friends you can make, in the limited amount of time you have here...but there's no telling how any of it is gonna work out. Especially when you're young and can't see the forest for the trees, anyway. Some people have stacked decks, and some people have terrible hands.
We're not even close to a meritocracy, but there are those who will try to convince you that we are. I'm not sure a society based on merit is even possible, anyway - people are always going to give special privileges to friends and family, and being born with wealth makes a whole slew of things easier in life. A lot of the kids I knew who grew up in poverty...never even had a sliver of hope to get out of it. They'll be lucky if, in this economy, they can even do as well as their neglectful parents did.
Currently, his Networth is 3.1 Billion dollars. I'm fairly certain he's a Forbes 500.
He was born on a small Greek island, and his parents moved to the US when he was 6 months old (NYC/Harlem.) He graduated from a NYC public high school specializing in engineering, mathematics and science (they have those? My public school specialized in nothing, and barely had any funding whatsoever. We had books printed in the mid 80s.) His father worked as a busboy. John C. received a congressional nomination to West Point (presumably, his parents weren't natural born citizens and had no connections - this is where things get fishy.) but instead of attending West Point, he went to college to study electrical engineering. He worked at a grocery store with his uncle "Tony" (Mafia anyone?) at this time. About the time he was entering his second year of university, Tony sold him half of the store (and he paid for this how?) he then proceeded to purchase another grocery store immediately after that. He dropped out of university. Within a couple years, he had bought a few more stores.
Wikipedia quotes him as saying that by the time he was 24, he was earning 1 million dollars a year (in 1972.)
Now even with as few details as this, I want to point out - this is a story of what essentially amounts to winning the lottery, or, alternatively, criminal enterprise. The idea that a 19-20 year old could afford to purchase half of a store in a major US city (or have the credit to do so?) is by itself, questionable. But to be able to nearly immediately after that purchase a /whole store/ and then within two years after that, purchase numerous more - and be making 1 million/year within five years...is literally insane. It's impossible, by the rules, okay? I don't think there's any question in that.
There's things left out of this story - like how maybe his parents were incredibly wealthy already and footed the bill (and his dad never was a busboy.) Or how he traded oil illegally with the Russian mafia to get started (heard that story from an old-timer at United.)
I really do reckon, and I really do -truly- believe, that most people who end up like Catsimatidis had a lot more on their side than good ol' determination and willpower to succeed. A hell of a lot more. And one needn't look far to see examples of individuals with a hell of a lot of intelligence and potential who can't even get a foot off the ground.
If you ask me nowadays, I'd tell you - life is mostly a lottery. There are things you can learn and skills you can build, and friends you can make, in the limited amount of time you have here...but there's no telling how any of it is gonna work out. Especially when you're young and can't see the forest for the trees, anyway. Some people have stacked decks, and some people have terrible hands.
We're not even close to a meritocracy, but there are those who will try to convince you that we are. I'm not sure a society based on merit is even possible, anyway - people are always going to give special privileges to friends and family, and being born with wealth makes a whole slew of things easier in life. A lot of the kids I knew who grew up in poverty...never even had a sliver of hope to get out of it. They'll be lucky if, in this economy, they can even do as well as their neglectful parents did.
