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American Exceptionalism Is A Myth
We rank poorly in many important areas compared to the rest of the developed world
There was a time when hard work and getting an education was a very good indicator of upward mobility, but children born in the US in the 1980s and afterward have only a 50/50 chance of doing better than their parents did economically. Our middle class has shrunk significantly from the 1970s, although it has leveled out some in recent years.
The shrinking of America’s middle class may have finally ground to a halt. Just over half (52%) of American adults lived in middle-class households in 2016, up slightly from 51% in 2011, but down from 54% in 2001 and 61% in 1971, according to recent data released by the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.
The percentage of people in lower- and upper-income households has, meanwhile, crept higher over the same period. “While the size of the nation’s middle class remained relatively stable, financial gains for middle-income Americans during this period were modest compared with those of higher-income households,” Pew senior researcher Rakesh Kochhar wrote. One World Media
Take a look at recent assessments of where the US ranks in terms of any number of important metrics and you’ll see that as a nation we are in bad shape in many areas, including health care…
