"America is doing quite poorly in terms of social mobility, compared to other top-tier countries."
I think this is a myth.
Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland all do pretty well on the 'gini coefficient' - but they are tiny, relatively homogeneous societies. They are ethnic groups - and they are each smaller than Los Angeles.
What would the gini coefficient look like for 'The entire EU' for example - which would be a better direct comparison to America.
It would be terrible.
Why? Because Greeks grow up mostly to live in Greece, and much poorer than Swedes, who grow up to be Swedes, generally much richer than Greeks.
Poor Greeks, Sardinians, and Bulgarians kids mostly do not grow up to reach the level of wealth of middle class Scandinavians - not even close.
From Slovenia to London ... the gap is really quite huge.
I think this is a myth.
Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland all do pretty well on the 'gini coefficient' - but they are tiny, relatively homogeneous societies. They are ethnic groups - and they are each smaller than Los Angeles.
What would the gini coefficient look like for 'The entire EU' for example - which would be a better direct comparison to America.
It would be terrible.
Why? Because Greeks grow up mostly to live in Greece, and much poorer than Swedes, who grow up to be Swedes, generally much richer than Greeks.
Poor Greeks, Sardinians, and Bulgarians kids mostly do not grow up to reach the level of wealth of middle class Scandinavians - not even close.
From Slovenia to London ... the gap is really quite huge.