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This doesn't contradict Roberts. The chart at the top of your linked article shows that even for Gen X, poor people generally out earn their parents, and rich
by jimbokun 6y ago
This doesn't contradict Roberts. The chart at the top of your linked article shows that even for Gen X, poor people generally out earn their parents, and rich people are far less likely to out earn their parents.
Roberts just elides the fact that historically, an even higher percentage of poor and middle class people would out earn their parents.
So his statistics are not wrong, he just presents them in a certain light.
- mdorazio 6y agoThat’s fair. To me the context of dropping mobility is more important than the absolute percentages.
- omikun 6y agoI'm concerned about the drop in mobility too. But stepping back for a bit, imagine mobility stayed the same, what would that mean? Would that mean everyone earns roughly the same after a few generations? Or would it mean the income inequality pyramid gets flipped upside down? Is that even feasible?