State of the Union

Ronald Bailey Says Obama's 'Opportunity' Makes Everybody Less Well Off

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Obama 2014 SOTU
CFR

At a speech in December to celebrate the 10th 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.