Ultimately the most successful societies find the balance between the twin virtues of unequal outcomes and equality of opportunity.

The key measure of this balance is inter-generational mobility.

America by this measure is in serious trouble.

Financial Times -- America’s dream unravels
As other nations rise, the US is in relative economic decline – and the country’s political system is making things worse.

Quote worth quoting.

“The great American middle class is in long-term crisis. Most people cannot get secure, well-paid jobs any longer. The top 1 per cent captured 93 per cent of the income gains in 2010. The remaining 99 per cent were either treading water or seeing falling incomes.”

Related.

New York Review of Books -- What Future for Occupy Wall Street?
Less than a week after the tenth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, Occupy Wall Street protesters set up camp in Zuccotti Park across the street from the site that had become known by the military phrase “Ground Zero.”

Quote worth quoting.

“Less surprising is the fact that the OECD ranks the United States roughly on a level with Mexico, Chile, and Turkey in overall poverty, child poverty, and health care. The system’s inability to deliver had, it was clear, extended to large portions of the middle class.”

Related.

New York Times -- Why Some Countries Go Bust
By his own admission, Daron Acemoglu is a slightly pudgy and fairly nerdy guy with an unpronounceable last name.

Quote worth noting.

“Now, in their new book, Why Nations Fail, Acemoglu and his collaborator, James Robinson, argue that the wealth of a country is most closely correlated with the degree to which the average person shares in the overall growth of its economy.”