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If this were true then social mobility would be very low in countries like Germany where the government is more involved, compared to the USA. Yet the opposite
by badsock 10y ago
If this were true then social mobility would be very low in countries like Germany where the government is more involved, compared to the USA. Yet the opposite is true.
The government improving the lives of children through subsidies and high-quality universal education is the most direct means of breaking the link between your own fortunes and those of the family you were (through no fault or efforts of your own) born into.
Also, I would argue that inequality (beyond a certain point, which the US is far past) /is/ inherently bad. The super-wealthy can have their mega yachts, it's their unfair political influence, which is in proportion to their wealth, that's the issue.
- MrBuddyCasino 10y agoGermany is one of the countries with the lowest social mobility. Although being poor sucks less than in the US, poor people are likely to stay poor.
- badsock 10y agoWhy do you believe that? It's quite clear that it's not true: http://www.epi.org/publication/usa-lags-peer-countries-mobility/ http://www.epi.org/publication/usa-lags-peer-countries-mobil...
- explainthisth 10y agoThat's not great evidence on where poor people are more likely to stay poor. You'd want to pick a level of purchasing power that counts as poor, a level that counts as not poor, and measure how many people moved between those levels.