The End of the Horatio Alger “Only in America” Myth

I’ve been hearing and reading about this for years, but I never Googled it.  But now it’s official:  Some of those European socialist nanny states actually have more upward mobility than the United States.

Ouch!  One of the Right’s favorite talking points — down the drain.  Any time you talk about protecting the environment or ensuring safe working conditions, you get the same rightwing drivel:

“We can’t have all these bureaucratic regulations strangling the economy.  We’ll be just like those stagnant welfare states over there in Yerp, where everyone is the same, nobody has any incentive to work harder and improve themselves because they just lie around getting government handouts.”

Other personal favorites include:  “Equal opportunity, not equal outcome” and “If you work hard and play your cards right, YOU too can be part of that 1%.”

Rick Santorum, of all people, acknowledged this at the GOP debate in Las Vegas last Tuesday:

“Believe it or not, studies have been done that show that in Western Europe, people at the lower parts of the income scale actually have a better mobility going up the ladder now than in America.”

NOOO!!!  God Damn it, only in America can a shoeshine boy lift himself up by his bootstraps and build his own business empire!

The “American Dream” is most likely to come true in Denmark.  What?!?!?!?  Them lazy socialist welfare-guzzling layabouts???

In fact, Great Britain is now the only major economy in the world with less upward mobility than the United States.

Sorry, Oligarchs — back to the drawing board.  Looks like you’ll need some new slogans to feed your useful idiots.