The Letter

To the Editor:

Re “Harder for Americans to Rise From Economy’s Lower Rungs” (front page, Jan. 5):

America’s stalled mobility is not only disheartening — it also challenges our sense of national identity and is a threat to economic prosperity. The Horatio Alger ideal that someone born poor can, through hard work, become rich is the quintessential American promise. But for the most part it is a pipe dream.

The same Pew study cited in the article shows that in the last generation, only about 6 out of 100 poor children actually struck it big.

“Movin’ on up” is especially hard for children born poor and black, or poor and female. Black children of poor parents are half as likely as their white counterparts to become rich. They also face a much greater risk of slipping down the economic ladder: 45 percent of black children of solidly middle-income parents ended up poor, compared with 16 percent of white children.

And despite the enormous strides women have made in the world of work, daughters of poor families were more likely to remain poor than sons (47 and 35 percent, respectively).

Education and the neighborhood where a child grows up play a huge role in determining economic success, as does family background.

What can be done? We must strengthen community colleges, where most poor children who get an education beyond high school do so; encourage partnerships between employers and community colleges; and improve economic opportunities in poor neighborhoods.

To improve mobility we must get the American jobs machine working again, creating the middle-class jobs that are the foundation of our nation’s greatness.

ANGELA GLOVER BLACKWELL
Oakland, Calif., Jan. 7, 2012

The writer is the founder and chief executive of PolicyLink, a nonprofit research and action institute that advances economic and social equity.

Readers React

With corporations seeking ever greater profits and work force cuts assisting that greed, gone is the progressive, enlightened notion that captains of industry must help build an upwardly mobile society.

There is little sense of a corporate responsibility to invest in America by investing in people. Ironically, these people are the would-be consumers who could add to the sacred bottom line.

Until there is a return to such responsibility, not only will the middle class continue to shrink, but also the poor far down the ladder will not even get to the first rung.

ARTHUR HENRY GUNTHER III
Blauvelt, N.Y., Jan. 12, 2012

I applaud the sentiments expressed in Ms. Blackwell’s letter, but I am afraid that her solution is far from adequate. As Paul Krugman has pointed out, the incomes of non-wealthy college graduates have also stagnated. If you want to increase upward mobility and reduce inequality, you have to look at what policies have been responsible for the giant rise in economic inequality in the United States.

Here are some of the policies you could change:

¶Reverse the war on unions, which were responsible for creating and maintaining the middle class in America. Strengthen the National Labor Relations Board and enforce the laws.

¶Return to more progressive tax rates and higher real corporate taxes. This will encourage the rich to leave their profits in their companies and the companies to spend on hiring more workers and paying them better.

¶Create a universal government-run health care system such as all other developed nations enjoy. This would eliminate the reason that so many people have moved down the ladder — health care expenses.

LEONARD S. CHARLAP
Princeton, N.J., Jan. 11, 2012

Those who make the claim that mobility is limited in this country live in a different America than I and my immigrant family have experienced. Sure, things are tough now for everyone, but our story is common enough to keep us confident about the real opportunities that exist in the United States.

My father’s parents came here through Ellis Island — with nothing. They made their way by working with their hands (my grandfather was a carpenter). Their five children have all realized opportunities greater than their parents, and their many grandchildren, including a veterinarian and three with M.B.A. degrees, are living the American dream beyond the expectations of our humble grandparents.

Perhaps equating outcomes with opportunity is behind what is driving the notion that mobility is now more limited. We have always had unequal outcomes — and under times of stress and change these tend to be magnified. But there is still no other country in the world where people would rather come to in the search for success than the United States.

FRANK SALVO
New Canaan, Conn., Jan. 11, 2012

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1014bcd7ea310b2cada6333ace8bf11a