| jayeff |
07-08-2004 03:35 PM |
Quote:
Originally posted by Matt 26z
You can't look at America's poor when judging America. Most of those people are of not only a different economic class but also a different social class that does not change with their income. That's why they remain failures.
|
I wasn't looking only at America's poor although it is a fact that very few indeed make it to the the middle class and you may be right as to why. But the statement that you are "3-4 times more likely to slip down the economic ladder" (in relation to your parents' economic status) refered solely to the middle class. And it is the middle class which is shrinking.
You can consider it good, bad, or of no consequence, but one of the differences between the US and Europe is not the divide between the wealthiest and the poorest (those stats are similar), but that a much higher ratio of people in the US are poor. Thus the middle class is smaller, but wealthier on a per head basis. That could be part of the reason why it is taking so long for the "work hard my son and you can be anything you want" myth to die.
Of course some individuals do go from rags to riches. But the US is no longer the entrepreneur-friendly country it once was and overall, the statistics for upward movement are now pretty much in line with other developed countries. |
