Despite conservatives' denials about income inequality and the validity of the Occupy movement's mission, recent surveys show that the protest's rallying cry-"We are the 99 percent"-strikes a chord with many Americans. The economic mobility that once seemed a basic feature of American life has faded away; the U.S. now stands behind Denmark, Canada, and Britain, among others, when it comes to social mobility-62 percent of Americans born into the top two-fifths of the income distribution stay in that bracket, a far larger sum than in Britain (30 percent). The middle class retains a far higher degree of mobility-about 36 percent of Americans raised in the middle-fifth move up as adults-but people at either end of the economic spectrum are unlikely to budge.
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According to The Economist's forecasts, Libya is set to be the fastest growing economy in 2012 because of massive reconstruction efforts following the fall of Gaddafi's 42-year reign.
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