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nuckles87 on 16 October 2015
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SuaveSocialist said:
thranx said:
SuaveSocialist said:




I doubt it. The poor here have more chance for upward mobility than in almost any other country (i believe the netherlands and dutch countrries may have better, but lets face it, they always seem to be at the top of every chart, damm those dutch, but they also dont seal with a lot of the issues the size of a country like the US would, and the US is still one of the only countries with an open immigration policy)

The poor have a much better shot in every other 1st World country.  Wages have not kept up with the cost of living/inflation and income inequality has been steadily making the Middle Class more poor.  This hasn't occurred to the same extent in other 1st World countries as it has in the US.  The chance for upward mobility is much better elsewhere and it continues to worsen and worsen faster in the US. 

Don't get me wrong--it's much better to be poor in the US than Mexico (there pretty much isn't any upward mobility there) but looking at developed nations exclusively, the US is the worst country to be poor in.  The worst.  Well.  Okay.  Russia is the worst (if you consider it to be a developed country or a 1st World nation, but that's the subject of debate right now).

At least the US isn't as bad as Russia.  Way to set the bar high.


I just wanted to add to this with a few links:

 

http://www.epi.org/publication/usa-lags-peer-countries-mobility/

 

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/09/news/economy/america-economic-mobility/

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2015/04/25/cheat-sheet-american-dream/26247267/

 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000062

 

America has been lagging behind many other developed nations in social mobility for sometime now, not JUST Denmark and the Netherlands (though yeah, they are at the top of a lot of lists, including this one). DEVELOPED is an important qualifier, btw. Still, at least we are ahead of the UK, albeit barely.