America loves the Henri Ford story of a poor who became rich.
The matter of the fact is that millions of people did exactly what H.Ford had done, but they never became H.Ford and no one know their names. These people are the vast majority, while the Fords are the tiny-but-famous minority.
Shira,
My family came over here dirt poor. Although we aren't millionaires we have improved our lifes tenfold as compared to what life was like in the various countries my family came from. (Austria, Palestine, Lebanon, Ireland)