Ariely and Norton found that Americans think they live in a far more equal country than they in fact do. On average, those surveyed estimated that the wealthiest 20percent of Americans own 59 percent of the nation’s wealth; in reality the top quintile owns around 84 percent. The respondents further estimated that the poorest 20 percent own 3.7 percent, when in reality they own 0.1 percent.
. . .
The U.S. now has the world’s second-lowest level of income mobility between generations, after England, according to research by economist Miles Corak at the University of Ottawa. Yet studies have also shown that voters have an impressive ability to absorb information that contradicts their beliefs without letting it change their minds.
The Inequality Delusion (via Andrew Sullivan)
The biggest barrier to progress is blindness to current state. We are not the nation we think we are.
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