Rags to Riches: Who Should Really Care? ..... Not the 99 percent.

[marmar]

from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:



Rags to Riches: Who Should Really Care?
November 6, 2011

Not the 99 percent. We’ve let the cheerleaders for the richest among us get away with myths about mobility for much, much too long.

By Sam Pizzigati


Mobility, apologists for America’s grand fortunes love to argue, trumps inequality.

Our society may be deeply unequal, the argument goes, but that doesn’t really matter — because anybody in America, with a little grit, can get rich. In our “land of opportunity,” no one has any legitimate reason to grouse.

Researchers over recent years have unveiled a ton of data that demolishes this “land of opportunity” mobility mythology. Fewer and fewer Americans are getting ahead, they’ve documented, as America has become more unequal.

And the world’s most equal developed nations, researchers have also shown, have significantly more social mobility than the distinctly unequal United States. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://toomuchonline.org/rags-to-riches-who-should-really-care/

[PETRUS]

1. K&R

"The defenders of privilege just don’t seem to get it. In truly decent societies we measure success by how many people are leading rich, fulfilling lives, not by counting how many people are becoming rich beyond measure."

[TBF]

2. Good article. nt