[Sailor Steve]

I think Mr. Stiglitz misunderstands what the 'American Dream' is. It was never about making it from the bottom to the top, as he puts it. What it has always been is the ideal of being the best you can be, and the freedom to do so. Two hundred years ago every European was born into a class, as they had been for the thousand years before that, and they were a part of that class and could never be otherwise. A nobleman couldn't become a peasant any more than a peasant could become a nobleman. In America if you didn't like the job you had you could learn to be something else. It may not have raised your social position or made your life better, but if there was something else you wanted to do you were guaranteed the freedom to do it.

Most of Europe learned from that example, and when Mr. Stiglitz points out that many Europeans have it better today it is because they were intrigued by what had happened in one country and strove to emulate it. It has always been rare for someone born poor to become rich, but it did happen, and still does. It's true that most of us will never be a famous actor, rock star or software developer, but people do still achieve those. On the other hand it's not uncommon for people to rise to the top of the jobs they do have. The dream exists because in the 'Old Country' there was a time when you couldn't do that. There are still places in the world where you can't, and for the people there the American Dream still lives, though these days it has become a dream that can be fulfilled in much of the Western World, which makes America not stand out as it once did.

I say that's a good thing.