Dunno about stateside, but my youngest is 6'7" and although 28 years old, hasn't really started earning yet...   Granted, he has dived head first into academia, but his PhD stipend is less than you could make stacking the inevitable shelves.

The idea that tall people earn more is a bit of a fallacy. Same as fat people earning less, or your background goes against you. I was on the appointing panel recently for a chief executive of a large public sector organisation with over half a billion pounds to be responsible for. He is rather short, rather round, bald and has a northern accent. His background is about as privileged as mine. Funnily enough, he got it on merit, same as most senior posts.

All excuses really. Getting on, whatever that means, is a combination of wanting to, luck and maximising your personal attributes. The luck is a big factor. There is an industry based on psychoanalysis in the career game, and it is all balls. Carl Jung? Busted flush. I see as much in psychometric reports as some see in horoscopes. They perpetuate the myth that the dice are loaded against you, not reality.