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by ryandrake 4111 days ago
Old article [2003] but I bet still relevant today: 39% of Americans believed they are (19%), or will one day be (20%), among the top one percent. Until this "Don't squeeze the rich because, hey, I'll be rich one day" attitude changes, labor and equality movements will always be uphill battles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/the-triumph-of-hop...
1 comments
evanpw 4111 days ago
If you relax the constraint a bit and replace top 1% with top 5%, then almost 40% of Americans will make it at some point. And 12% of them will hit the top 1%.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/from-rags-t...

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ryandrake 4111 days ago
Cool follow up link, however it distinguishes between the difficulty of reaching the 1%/5%/etc. for a single year vs. sustaining this state. I'd argue the concept of "being one of the 1%" implies being able to sustain this level for longer than a year.
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