Bob Herbert's column today on class mobility is excellent. Also worth reading is Jesse's thoughtful critique of it. He writes
It's not an issue of whether or not the file clerk can become the CEOin thirty years, but rather the fact that the file clerk is gettingpaid comparitively less and less while the CEO sucks up all thebenefits of the company's success. The goal isn't to assure that everymiddle manager becomes a millionaire, but rather that if you are amiddle manager over a five-year period, you're actually earning more atthe end of that period respective to your work and commitment than youwere at the beginning.
That's true to an extent, but if this country really is losing its class mobility -- and that looks to be the case -- then we've got some serious problems with how we run our economy and structure our society. As it is, the bottom line assumption of American economic policy is that our economy, more or less, runs off of hard work and individual initiative. That's never been totally true, but the past 80 years have certainly seen it prove true enough for incremental policy-making. If that ends, however, we can no longer legislate as if each and every American has an excellent chance, given a bit of hard work and ingenuity, to ascend up the economic escalator. Instead, we're going to have to start legislating for a country where, through no fault of their own, individuals are stuck where they're born. And that's not really a regime I'd like to see.
As a further point, the problem isn't the absolute size of the CEO's treasure pot, but what that means for the pay of his employees. If the middle class is doing well, remaining competitive, and moving forward, then the skyrocketing wealth of the extremely rich isn't so galling. If 80% of the country is stagnating or slipping back, however, then a managerial elite that's growing ever wealthier but doing so without benefitting the majority of workers presents a real problem. In short, it's not an effective allocation of resources, it's a case of the market failing to work in the country's best interest.
