Reply #12: Dead, at the present moment, but

[whathehell]

at one time, one I was fortunate enough to grow up in, it was not a "myth" but something of a reality...

It was a belief, largely true, that if you worked hard enough (preferably in a place with a good union) poor and/or less educated people could ascend into the middle class and possibly beyond....Achievement of wealth by those starting at the bottom was unlikely, but less so for those in the middle class, if that's what the middle class person pursued.

By and large, that "dream" was brought to you by Franklin Roosevelt and The New Deal...The baby boomers were probably the last generation to benefit from it.