On Tuesday, David Brooks, the faux-conservative columnist for The New York Times, and a columnist so ensconced in wry analysis of the American upper middle class that he seems to have completely lost touch with reality, penned a rather condescending column (aren’t they all?) about how upper class Americans have created their own society. Brooks’ thesis: “Over the past generation, members of the college-educated class have become amazingly good at making sure their children retain their privileged status. They have also become devastatingly good at making sure the children of other classes have limited chances to join their ranks.”
This is an astonishing claim, given that income mobility in the United States has not changed since the 1970s, and that income mobility in the United States is the same as Europe’s, despite Europe’s higher levels of redistribution; virtually all differences between income mobility levels in the United States vs. Europe are attributable to dropping out of high school or having babies out of wedlock.
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