[fourtrees]

This is one of my big take-aways from the article. My great-(great?-)-grandparents from Eastern Europe armed with nothing but excellent numeracy, some English, and the clothes on their backs. They could reliably expect to enter move out of post-immigration poverty based on skills cultivated for the purpose of success in the US. My great-x-grandfather ended up a bank manager. And they passed money and knowledge along to their children, insuring as best they could that their progress wouldn't be lost, and it wasn't. You've heard this story a thousand times, and I'd bet it happened tens of thousands of times.

But that sort of outcome seems almost impossible in America today due to more factors than I could probably name especially at this hour. But it seems clear to me that America has changed in the last 120-100 years in a way that locks people into their social classes/'earnings quintiles' while perpetuating, I assume to the advantage of the very wealthy, the myth that that old America of extreme social mobility still exists. This is a myth that needs to die if we're to adequately address our problems as a nation. I suspect the solution begins in the education industry.

[maxerickson]

As far as earnings, median household income is very achievable (~$68,000). Associates degrees in medical fields lead to $50,000+ salaries. How far those earnings go relative to other periods is debatable.

Catching up in terms of wealth is probably a lot harder (because we continue to get richer).

[DarylZero]

Median of all things is always achievable to half of all people everywhere.

[piafraus]

> But that sort of outcome seems almost impossible in America today due to more factors than I could probably name especially at this hour.

Replace numeracy with programming and it happens right and left. We came from Eastern Europe with barely enough money to rent for a few months. Now we are in top percentile of earners in US. And have lot's of friends with a similar story.

[defaultprimate]

>But that sort of outcome seems almost impossible in America today

Then you don't know enough about how well, for example, African and central Asian refugees or immigrants do in a single generation. Same for Hispanic immigrants within a generation or two.

[Swizec]

> Then you don't know enough about how well, for example, African and central Asian refugees or immigrants do in a single generation.

In a generation? I moved here from Europe and within ~6 years accumulated as much wealth as my parents did in a lifetime.

The American dream is still alive and kicking for many if not most immigrants.

But my american friends have a fun joke they like to say: "Wow look at that immigrant work ethic! Wish I could work that hard" ... you could

[defaultprimate]

I'm so happy to hear of your success! Unfortunately not enough people will give you the credit you deserve because you didn't come from a "bad" place.

[Swizec]

I mean … does it count if there was a (short) civil war when I was 4? Or that my country went from communist dictatorship to EU member in the first 17 years of my life?

“Bad” is extremely relative. Some of my good friends were actively getting bombed by USA just 600km south of my city when I was in high school. That’s like living in SF with an active warzone in LA, if they were in different countries ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[defaultprimate]

To me, absolutely. To people of a different political persuasion, it's dependent on the color of your skin and how many political points can be scored on the basis of your relative suffering compared to those that are not coming from predominantly "white, European" countries (regardless of how white they may actually be), not the facts of your circumstance.

The plight of a progressive Nigerian immigrant whose family was extremely wealthy prior to immigration is worth more than your story in today's climate.