Headline, May23, 2014

''' AN AVERAGE STUDENT'S 

OPPORTUNIT​Y TO RISE?!

''' BUT WHERE-WHER​E ? '''

A REPORT last month in the Times by David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy noted that the American middle class:

Is no longer the richest in the world, with Canada apparently pulling ahead in median after tax income. Other countries in Europe are poised to over take America as well.

It was   -in 1931 that the historian James Truslow Adams coined the phrase ''the American dream.''

The American dream is not just a yearning for affluence, Adams said, but also for the chance to overcome barriers and social class, to become the best that one can be.

Adams acknowledged that the United States didn't fully live up to that ideal, but he argued that America came closer than anywhere else, dared!

Adams was right at the time, and for decades. Many, many refugees after World War II, continued to leave for the United States because it was less class bound, more meritocratic, and offered more opportunity.

Yet today, the American dream has derailed, partly because of growing inequality. Or maybe the American dream has just swapped citizenship, for now it is more likely to be found in:

Canada or Europe  -and a central issue in this year's and all future political campaigns should be and would be   -how to repatriate it. 

In fact the discrepancy is arguably even greater. Canadians receive essentially free healthcare, while Americans pay for part of their health care costs with after tax dollars.

Meanwhile, the American worker toils, on average 4.6% more hours than a Canadian worker, 21% more hours than a French worker and an:

Astonishing  28%  more hours than a German worker, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  

''WHEN OUR FUTURES..........are determined to a significant extent at birth, be assured that we've reverted to the feudalism that our ancestors fled,'' reasons one highly respected author.

''Equality of opportunity   -the American dream-  has always been a cherished ideal,'' Joseph Stiglitz,  the Nobel-winning economist at Columbia University, noted in a recent speech.

''But data now show that this is a myth :  America has become the most advanced country not only with the highest level of inequality, but one of those with the least equality of opportunity.''

Consider that the American economy has, over all, grown more quickly than France's. But so much of the growth has gone to the top  1 percent   that:

The bottom 99 percent of French people: have done better than the bottom  99%   of  Americans.

The Honour and Serving of the Post continues.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Students And Dreams '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless