Nobel winner Stiglitz: “American Dream is a myth”

Studies have shown that intergenerational social mobility in America since the 80s has been a bit lower than is popularly assumed. Stiglitz's book about this is newsworthy because most people still don't know that, despite the fact that economists and sociologists have known it, and talked about it, and taught it to their students, for decades.

The American dream is like the pony express. It was the product of a great many particular circumstances. It did once exist, for a handful of people in a few chosen places, but disappeared before anyone realized. It's a romantic ideal more important as fiction than practical reality. It is something to be talked about, not something that ever actually happens. So it is no more dead today than ever because it wasn't never really alive in the first place.

I am optimistic that this &quot;American Dream&quot; could still be a reality. The United States absolutely has the resources to put a hard floor on living, health and education standards, thereby helping people to break the rut of family poverty.<p>That the US people collectively don&#x27;t have the will to do it is another story. The amount of psychopathy in this country towards the unfortunate is astounding.

When was the myth born anyway? II. world war ended the depression and the job market became shortaged of workers - I&#x27;m sure those of that generation profited. Before that there was the campaign in the 1800:s to colonize the vacant fertile lands and farmers could get all the land they could farm dirt cheaply. But other than those two episodes - was there actually that much socio-economic mobility compared to other areas? In the mid 1800:s the americans were massively more literate than e.g. english (something like 80% compared to 50%?) so I can belive the comparable opportunities were much better in the US than in the UK but I&#x27;m short of statistics...

I&#x27;ve always wondered if &#x27;affirmative action,&#x27; but conditioned on household wealth instead of racial origin, could create more social or economic mobility. Has anyone else considered this strategy?

The days if simply being able to work hard and do well are long gone. All the straight forward factory jobs are long gone and never coming back. So that American dream is probably dead.

Maybe for Stiglitz it is, but for hard-working people with real skills, America provides great opportunities.

Hmm ... I disagree. America still seems to be the place with the greatest civil liberties, technological and scientific advancements