- Gregory Clark, of UC Davis, claims American dream is simply an illusion
Gregory Clark, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis - Instead, social mobility in U.S. is no higher than in rest of world, he says
- Disadvantaged citizens 'will not be granted opportunities for hard work'
- They will remain stuck in social status for life - and so will their children
- Mr Clark's findings were obtained using figures from the past 100 years
- But his students disagree, saying parents' wealth is not 'deciding factor
But the American Dream does not actually exist, according to one economics professor.
Gregory Clark, who works at the University of California, Davis, claims the national ethos is simply an illusion and that social mobility in the country is no higher than in the rest of the world.
'America has no higher rate of social mobility than medieval England or pre-industrial Sweden,' he said. 'That's the most difficult part of talking about social mobility - it's shattering people's dreams.'
After studying figures from the past 100 years and applying a formula to them, Mr Clark concluded that disadvantaged Americans will not be granted more opportunities if they are hard-working.
Instead, they will be stuck in their social status for the rest of their lives - and their position will, in turn, affect the statuses of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he said.
'The United States is not exceptional in its rates of social mobility,' the professor wrote in an essay published by the Council on Foreign Relations.
'It can perform no special alchemy on the disadvantaged populations of any society in order to transform their life opportunities.'
Speaking to CBS Sacramento, he added: 'The status of your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren will be quite closely related to your average status now.'
However, not all of Mr Clark's students agree with his findings, with some pointing out that although parents' wealth has an effect on a child's life, 'it is not the ultimate deciding factor'.
In his essay, the professor also commented on the high number of people uprooting to the U.S., saying there is reason to believe they will 'have a much more difficult time' than previous immigrants.
'Recent evidence suggests that, in reality, social mobility rates are extremely low,' he wrote, adding that immigrating to the U.S. 'rarely changes one's social status'.
He even went so far as to say that immigrants - particularly, illegal immigrants (of whom, four out of five are Latinos) - are widening social inequality in America.
These rates are far more excessive than those of descendants of the domestic population and other immigrant groups, Mr Clark said.
They show, he said, that although America strives to portray itself as a country of opportunity that can transform citizens' lives, it is actually no different in terms of social mobility than anywhere else.
Concluding his essay, Mr Clark added: 'The truth is that the American Dream was always an illusion. Blindly pursuing that dream now will only lead to a future with dire social challenges.'
And other data bases initiated (suprisingly?), by the brothers KOCH five or seven years ago are a way of logging the performance, traits, illnesses, financial status, legal situation, education and employment history of every employee and contractor working for American companies, both at home and abroad.
This data base ( [Link] ) is used by purchasing agents to 'review' a company or contractor before giving them work, which sounds like a great idea if your company pays the money to register and maintain files. If your company cannot be bothered or has had an issue over safety or money recently then you can count yourself out of the bidding process to oil and gas companies, municipalities, construction companies, airlines, etc. because everything is recorded.
Similarly it is used to deny people employment on a new job if they have had an accident in their previous employment or if they are behind on their credit/car/house payments, if they are involved in litigation (divorce) or if they have ever visited a doctor for depression or the clap.
What this does is ensure only those people who tow the party line and kiss the flag and abstain from casual sex will have the good jobs which pay more than minimum wage (but not much). Everyone else finds themselves either out of work or working for subsistence wages.
David and Charles have created a new 'caste' system in the military industrial complex and it is not about to end anytime soon.