poverty

Today's Census report also documented a worsening income distribution and that 50.7 m. Americans are without health insurance.  These data underscore why Americans are so down on the economy and on Washington's policy responses.  Explaining that those policies operate with a lag and that they're much less effective in the face of a mountain of public and private debt is no consolation.

That's what we like to think, but a new book, Creating an Opportunity Society, by Ron Haskins and Belle Sawhill of the Brookings Institution proves otherwise.  They took a close look at intergenerational mobility and found that 42% of American men with fathers in the bottom income quintile remain there as compared to: Denmark, 25%; Sweden, 26%; Finland, 28%; Norway, 28%; and the United Kingdom, 30%.  They present a wealth of new and old research evidence to support the conclusion that if you're born poor in America, you're likely to remain poor.