Upward social mobility, or at least the promise of upward social mobility, is what keeps most western societies going forward. This has been the case since I left school in the sixties.
People get out of bed in the morning because they expect today will be better than yesterday. We invest enormously in our children to give them the chance to do the best they can. Real life seems to be a constant striving for self-improvement for all. It’s like a conveyor belt.
This is what social mobility is all about and upward social mobility demands a bit of room on the hill for everyone. There has to be a chance.
But what happens if that social conveyor belt stops? What happens when the concentration of wealth at the top becomes so extreme that there is very little left to go around? What happens when policies all over the world explicitly work to make rich people richer?
This is exactly what has happened all over the West in the past 10 years. The recessions have provided a once-in-a-generation opportunity for rich people to become even wealthier. We have seen a massive transfer of wealth in the recession from the middle to the very rich. This has ensured a significant wealth divide – the sort of inequality not seen for over 100 years.
Not good for the future.
-Thanks to David McWilliams.
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