in 1940, a child born in to an average American household had a 92% of making more money than their parents. in 1950, 79%. now it's under 50%.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32092894)

http://www.xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453207&forum_id=2

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32092907)

http://www.xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453237&forum_id=2

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32092911)

His single mother, a human resources director at a San Diego nursing home, made enough to give him that peace of mind.

But Johnson, 33, now makes $12.50 an hour working at a Taco Bell in Richmond, Calif., and he struggles to make his paycheck cover the basics for his 10-year-old twins.

“Things I am dealing with now, [my mother] didn’t have to deal with. … It’s heartbreaking,” Johnson said. “I feel I am unable to provide my kids with the same opportunity.”

His experience is the norm in America, a new study reveals.

Since the 1940s, it has become less and less likely that children will grow up to earn more than their parents, according to a working paper authored by researchers from Stanford and Harvard universities and UC Berkeley, which was released online Thursday.

Children born in 1940 had a 92% chance of taking home more income than their parents, the research shows. By contrast, someone born in 1984 — who is 32 years old today — has just a 50% likelihood of making more than his or her parents.

Put another way: Only about half of 30-something Americans earn more than their parents.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-american-dream-study-20161208-story.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32092912)

The rise of inequality has damaged the American dream more than the growth slowdown.

One way to think about inequality’s role is to remember that the American economy is far larger and more productive than in 1980, even if it isn’t growing as rapidly. Per-capita G.D.P. is almost twice as high now. By itself, that increase should allow most children to live better than their parents.

They don’t, however, because the fruits of growth have gone disproportionately to the affluent.

The researchers ran a clever simulation recreating the last several decades with the same G.D.P. growth but without the post-1970 rise in inequality. When they did, the share of 1980 babies who grew up to out-earn their parents jumped to 80 percent, from 50 percent. The rise was considerably smaller (to 62 percent) in the simulation that kept inequality constant but imagined that growth returned to its old, faster path.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32092939)

Or a fortuitous meteor.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32093026)

http://www.xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=3451599&forum_id=2

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3453923&forum_id=2#32093011)