The Democrats’ social-spending package cannot repair the American Dream
Social mobility has dropped precipitously
IN THE 1940s Joseph Biden senior fell from early wealth to near-destitution. He moved his young family in with his in-laws as he scrabbled for work in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before re-establishing middle-class ease as a used-car salesman in Delaware. For all the weight that his son, President Joe Biden, places on the wellbeing of the middle class he also cares deeply about the opportunity to join it, or rejoin it, and to rise through its ranks.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Stuck in place”
From the November 6th 2021 edition
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