re: #265 ralphieboy

Part of the American Ideal is that social and economic advantages are not to become institutionalized in the form of something like the British House of Lords.

It isn’t working out that way.

Here is a Brookings Institute study on social mobility in the United States from last year. We are virtually tied with England and far behind Canada and most of western Europe.

In the high-stakes environment of a society with
rapidly growing income inequality, it is ever more
critical that society provides its citizens with a fair
shot at competing for the economic rewards that
come with success. And in today’s economic game,
the stakes are indubitably high. Widening income
inequalities may be tolerable if everyone has a shot at
the top. But is that the case in America today?
Perhaps driven by widening inequality and a concern
about the fairness of the game, there is a tangible and
growing sense of pessimism among the American
public. In exit polls after the 2006 election, less than
one- third of the voters said that they thought life would
be better for the next generation.5 In another poll, over
half of Americans surveyed thought that the American
Dream is no longer attainable for the majority of their
fellow citizens.6 Other polls suggest that Americans are
increasingly worried that they will be able to maintain
the standard of living they currently enjoy.7