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D. Mark Wilson of the Heritage Foundation wrote this article in 2001 arguing that income mobility in the USA was high, that people in the lowest quintile of income 25 years ago had moved on and become relatively more affluent. Then I studied the above graph presented as proof, which was intended to support the Bush tax cuts being contemplated at the time. Presumably, it also argued against increasing the minimum wage because among workers starting out in the lowest quintile, 59% had moved up into higher quintiles during this long period of time. It argued that low wages are temporary and upward income mobility is alive and well in the USA.
Then I noticed something about this graph: 41% of workers starting out in the lowest or bottom quintile remained there after 25 years, but were apparently joined by another 22.4% that had moved down from the next higher quintile into the lowest or bottom quintile.
Hence, it would appear that 63% of workers in the lowest quintile after 25 years of employment had either started out there or found themselves in the lowest quintile by way of downward economic mobility. This graph proves the opposite of what it contends, at least for people on the bottom rung after 25 years of toil. Upward mobility in the USA is a myth perpetrated by right wing conservatives, whose basic intent is to support taxcuts for our wealthiest aristocrats.
The full article is here,
http://www.heritage.org/...