"A Stinging Point, and Well Delivered"

"The result, Mr Reeves argues, is a chasm between the upper middle class and the bottom 80% of households, which makes a mockery of America's vision of itself as a land of opportunity. More than 40% of the children of the wealthiest 20% of households will themselves end up among the wealthiest 20%. And nearly 50% of those born to fathers who are among the best educated 20% will themselves end up among the best educated 20%. This gets to the brutal heart of Mr Reeves's argument. In his fourth chapter he turns to the camera, so to speak, to address his readers directly, saying: for American society to work as it should, your children, some of them anyway, must be downwardly mobile. Those who consider themselves exemplars of American achievement (and he includes himself among the offenders) are in fact economic villains."

The Economist reviews Richard Reeves's The Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It.