There is nothing wrong with inequality … until it starts limiting opportunity.

Well that might be a bit too strongly put, but it is certainly one thing to live in an unequal society where the chances of changing places with the rich, of seeing your children move on and upward, are high. Indeed, if this is the case we may even want a certain degree of inequality: people would have both the incentive and the possibility to better their situation.

But it is another thing altogether to live in an unequal society where there is little chance of moving on, where there are barriers preventing our talents and energies from being rewarded, where the accident of birth determines a child’s life chances.

This type of inequality should worry Occupiers and the 99% because it cuts sharply against what we commonly understand to be the American Dream.

Continue reading “Inequality and Occupy Wall Street 5: decline of the American Dream” →