Analyze the claim that in Gilded Age, the rich became rich.......?

Question

the poor remained poor due to their genetic makeup both physically and mentally.

Answer 1

The idea existed long before the Gilded Age....the elite old-money tracing their bloodlines/ancestry back for years and years, keeping wealth among themselves through selective breeding. During the Gilded Age, there were newcomers to the rich elite, those who had made their money during the industry boom. The old-money, blue bloods, differenciated themselves from this new "class" of rich by social form, a very strict and tradtional code. Those who could not trace their ancestry through the years also adopted this social form idea, believing they made their money because of a higher intelligence due to genetics. Many invested their money in the study of eugenics-frowned upon today.

Answer 2

That's pretty well hogwash.

If you look in nations with free economies, for instance England of that day, there were plenty of times that poor men made it rich.

The entire idea that its based on genetics is the really stupid part of that claim. The genes of the human race have not changed that much in the last few hundred years.
That's a really bigoted philosophy.