Ronald Bailey Says Obama’s ‘Opportunity’ Makes Everybody Less Well Off

At a speech in December to celebrate the
10^th anniversary of the left-leaning Center for American
Progress, President Barack Obama declared, “The combined trends of
increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental
threat to the American Dream.” Earlier this week, the president
dropped the claim that income mobility was increasing and just said
that it had “stalled.” The president pointed out that it was easier
for people in our rich country cohort to rise from the lowest
income quintile to the highest. Reason Science
Correspondent Ronald Bailey points out that that is true, but it’s
largely because people living in Denmark, France, and Germay have
much shorter income ladders to scale due to massive income
redistribution.

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