Thursday, January 10, 2008

114 - Economic Mobility: A Reality-Based Part Of The American Dream, Or A Myth Now Used By The Right-Wing To Justify Economic Injustice?

Today you'll hear exposed as a falsehood the pervasive myth -- pushed hardest by the right-wing -- that there is great economic mobility in the United States. You'll see that the real picture is not so pretty.

The conventional political wisdom has always been, the public doesn't care much about income and wealth inequality, because of the widely shared belief that everyone has a shot at becoming rich, that there is great economic mobility in the United States.

The right-wing, by its own admission, needs the mobility myth to justify and allow the perpetuation of rampant inequality.

Here's the reality: a report released as a joint effort by four major think tanks, including two ultra-conservative ones, the American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation, concludes

[N]ew data...raises provocative questions about the continuing ability of all Americans to move up the economic ladder and calls into question whether the American economic meritocracy is still alive and well.

Recent studies suggest that there is less economic mobility in the United States than has long been presumed. The last thirty years has seen a considerable drop-off in median household income growth compared to earlier generations. And, by some measurements, we are actually a less mobile society than many other nations, including Canada, France, Germany and most Scandinavian countries. This challenges the notion of America as the land of opportunity.

You'll find much more in the podcast you can use when conversing with your friendly local right-winger.

(PS: Right-wingers, if you want to write in to me, fine, but at least do me the courtesy of listening to the podcast first. Please don't respond just on the basis of the brief preview above. Thanks!!)

Programming note: Until February, there will most likely not be live shows on alternate weeks.

Jack Clark 3:36 PM [+]   4 comments
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