Meritocracy in America?

[Ivan Sputnik]

Here's an interesting article in The Economist on the disappearing US "meritocracy":

"A growing body of evidence suggests that the meritocratic ideal is in trouble in America. Income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the Gilded Age, around the 1880s. But social mobility is not increasing at anything like the same pace: would-be Horatio Algers are finding it no easier to climb from rags to riches, while the children of the privileged have a greater chance of staying at the top of the social heap. The United States risks calcifying into a European-style class-based society."

More here:
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3518560