"The Glass-Floor Problem" By RICHARD V. REEVES at the NY Times

[applegrove]

The Glass-Floor Problem

By RICHARD V. REEVES at the NY Times

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/the-glass-floor-problem/?hp

"SNIP...........................


We can improve rates of upward absolute mobility by simply expanding the economy. But improving rates of upward relative mobility from the bottom comes with a sting in the tail: it requires more downward mobility from the top.

It is well known that in the United States, income distribution has a “sticky floor.” Two-fifths of children born into the poorest fifth of households remain there as adults.

But it is sticky at the top, too: the same odds apply to those born into the richest fifth.

It is a stubborn mathematical fact that the top fifth of the income distribution can accommodate only 20 percent of the population. If we want more poor kids climbing the ladder of relative mobility, we need more rich kids sliding down the chutes.


............................SNIP"

[legcramp]

1. Wow. How far we have fallen from John F. Kennedy's

‘A rising tide lifts all the boats.’

I have no idea who this Reeves character is but he can go suck an egg.

[applegrove]

2. Did you read his whole article? He talks about two types of mobility.

I think this may be one of the myriad of reasons why the 1% are such big ***holes and want to gut the middle class of any power it has.

[pnwmom]

3. But he's right. The top 20% will always be a fifth of the people.

That math doesn't change.

[winter is coming]

5. The steepness of the slides, however, has changed, and not for the better. n/t

[Wilms]

4. There was a different tax code then.

And a different ethic.

Details matter.