{"id":16515,"date":"2025-06-11T08:46:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=16515"},"modified":"2025-06-11T08:46:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:46:33","slug":"the-case-for-american-social-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=16515","title":{"rendered":"The Case for American Social Mobility"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> Several times a week in his e-letter Liberty Through Wealth<\/em>, Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green offers sharp insights into building wealth, finding financial independence, and living a richer, freer life.<\/p>\n

Below, Alex gives us an important and inspiring reminder that the American Dream is still within reach.<\/p>\n

For more of this type of content from Alex, check out the Liberty Through Wealth<\/em> website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2013 James Ogletree, Managing Editor<\/p>\n

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I recently debated with author and economist Dr. Gregory Clark, who argues that there is no social mobility in this country.<\/p>\n

In his view, you are statistically unlikely to rise above the economic quintile that you were born into.<\/p>\n

There is a problem with his argument, however. It is demonstrably untrue.<\/p>\n

Most readers have experienced economic mobility themselves.<\/p>\n

Part of growing older is moving from earning no income, to earning minimum wage, to performing low-skill jobs, to landing better jobs \u2013 thanks to education and training \u2013 to earning your peak income (due to greater experience), to retiring and earning less.<\/p>\n

This is a fundamental part of most workers\u2019 experience. And it results in increasing income mobility right up until retirement.<\/p>\n

Workers who, in addition, live within their means, save, and invest generate substantial assets as well.<\/p>\n

And higher income and greater wealth make it far easier to live the American Dream.<\/p>\n

I can now look back a half-century to my high school days and recognize dozens of men and women who followed this path. And I\u2019ve met many hundreds more along the way.<\/p>\n

This is merely anecdotal evidence, of course. (Although I\u2019ll bet your experience is similar.)<\/p>\n

A scholar like Dr. Clark would insist on reliable and convincing statistical evidence instead.<\/p>\n

And there is plenty of it.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, Senator Phil Gramm, Dr. Robert Ekelund, and Dr. John Early \u2013 three men with different political views \u2013 co-authored an excellent book entitled, \u201cThe Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors note that there are essentially two ways to assess income mobility.<\/p>\n

The first one measures changes in income over an individual\u2019s lifetime (as I described above).<\/p>\n

The other \u2013 Dr. Clark\u2019s particular interest \u2013 measures the change in children\u2019s income compared to the parents. (Intergenerational social mobility, in other words.)<\/p>\n

Combining data from the Census Bureau, the Treasury Department, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the authors demonstrate the following\u2026\n<\/p>\n