International Herald Tribune Editorial - The land of opportunity?
International Herald Tribune Editorial - The land of opportunity?
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: July 16, 2007
When questioned about the enormous income inequality in the United States, the cheerleaders of unfettered markets counter that everybody has a shot at becoming rich in America.
That image is wrong, and these days it abets far too many unfair policies. President George W. Bush got away with huge tax cuts for the rich in part because the non-rich, who make up most of the population, believe everybody has a chance of making it into the club.
Unfortunately, the American dream is not that broadly accessible. Recent research surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a governmental think tank for the rich nations, found that mobility in the United States is lower than in other industrial countries. One study found that mobility between generations - people doing better or worse than their parents - is weaker in America than in Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Spain and France. In America, there is more than a 40 percent chance that if a father is in the bottom fifth of the earnings' distribution, his son will end up there, too. In Denmark, the equivalent odds are under 25 percent, and they are less than 30 percent in Britain.
America's sluggish mobility is ultimately unsurprising. Wealthy parents not only pass on that wealth in inheritances, they can pay for better education, nutrition and health care for their children. The poor cannot afford this investment in their children's development, and the government doesn't provide nearly enough help. In a speech earlier this year, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, argued that while the inequality of rewards fuels the economy by making people exert themselves, opportunity should be "as widely distributed and as equal as possible." The problem is that the have-nots don't have many opportunities either.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: July 16, 2007
When questioned about the enormous income inequality in the United States, the cheerleaders of unfettered markets counter that everybody has a shot at becoming rich in America.
That image is wrong, and these days it abets far too many unfair policies. President George W. Bush got away with huge tax cuts for the rich in part because the non-rich, who make up most of the population, believe everybody has a chance of making it into the club.
Unfortunately, the American dream is not that broadly accessible. Recent research surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a governmental think tank for the rich nations, found that mobility in the United States is lower than in other industrial countries. One study found that mobility between generations - people doing better or worse than their parents - is weaker in America than in Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Spain and France. In America, there is more than a 40 percent chance that if a father is in the bottom fifth of the earnings' distribution, his son will end up there, too. In Denmark, the equivalent odds are under 25 percent, and they are less than 30 percent in Britain.
America's sluggish mobility is ultimately unsurprising. Wealthy parents not only pass on that wealth in inheritances, they can pay for better education, nutrition and health care for their children. The poor cannot afford this investment in their children's development, and the government doesn't provide nearly enough help. In a speech earlier this year, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, argued that while the inequality of rewards fuels the economy by making people exert themselves, opportunity should be "as widely distributed and as equal as possible." The problem is that the have-nots don't have many opportunities either.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 8:23 AM
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