MOST NOT LIVING THE
AMERICAN DREAM
“ ‘We are living much more cloistered
lives in terms of class,’ said Thomas Sander, who directs a project on civic
engagement at the Kennedy School at Harvard.
“We are doing a much worse job of living
out the egalitarian dream that has been
our hallmark.”
“Emmanuel Saez, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that the top 1 percent of American households now controls 42 percent of the nation’s wealth, up from less than 30 percent two decades ago. The top 0.1 percent accounts for 22 percent, nearly double the 1995 proportion.
“Emmanuel Saez, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that the top 1 percent of American households now controls 42 percent of the nation’s wealth, up from less than 30 percent two decades ago. The top 0.1 percent accounts for 22 percent, nearly double the 1995 proportion.
“But even as income
inequality and the wealth gap
stoke the discontent that has emerged as
a powerful force in this year’s presidential election, for American business it
represents something else entirely. From cruise ship operators and casinos to
amusement parks and airlines, the rise of the 1
percent spells opportunity and profit.”
Nelson D. Schwartz, “In and Age of Privilege,
Not Everyone Is in the Same Boat: Companies Are Becoming Adept at Identifying
Wealthy Customers and Marketing to Them, Creating a Money-Based Caste System.”
New York Times, April 24, 2016, page A1.
24, 2016, page A1.