Among the articles I read recently was this one that said that many children, especially poor children, are worn out/stressed out, and that's an obvious but less-talked-about factor in education, which is tied to social mobility: thenation.com

this digs into social mobility trends, like this Economist overview:
economist.com

Is the 1/99 divide (growing gap between working and mega-rich owner/investor class that is more like the .01%) partly because of bad news coverage? I'm not being totally facetious. Do we explain issues like taxation well? When and when not? Can someone share examples. (I believe in them.)

From the Economist:

"Parental income is a better predictor of a child's future in America than in much of Europe, implying that social mobility is less powerful. Different groups of Americans have different levels of opportunity. Those born to the middle class have about an equal chance of moving up or down the income ladder, according to the Economic Mobility Project. But those born to black middle-class families are much more likely than their white counterparts to fall in rank. The children of the rich and poor, meanwhile, are less mobile than the middle class's. More than 40% of those Americans born in the bottom quintile remain stuck there as adults."

Sadly, social mobility is an issue in America and most places in the world. But for all of America's flaws, it is the most open and inclusive society on this planet.

Groups that help each other can rise. It starts with Mom and Dad encouraging and motivating children and with communities coming together--people who have achieved success helping others behind them.

Hi Vivek:

Happy to see you here.

I've been thinking about this a lot and trying to get a better grip on the principles of finance, which is not my strongest spot. But in essence, I think there is a collapsing of the American middle class... not across the board, of course, and not un-fixable, but hysteresis (long-term unemployment) like that resulting from the last recession changes families, communities, lives.... has public health effects too. I think we are overestimating the short term pain in this economy but underestimating the long-term disrruptions to a small but significant chunk of Americans... which definitely will affect social mobility.

Wait till you learn what lies ahead--in this decade.

We've watched the emergence of exponential companies like Facebook and Google. Billions were impacted--but only a few became wealthy. Now multiply this by 1000 and look beyond social media--in fields such as robotics, A.I., computing, synthetic biology, 3-D printing, medicine and nanomaterials.

We are going to transform entire industries such as manufacturing. And we have the chance to solve humanity's grand challenges and eliminate poverty and hunger and create unlimited energy, improve health, and so on.

We can figure out how to share this new prosperity or we can create more Zuckerbergs. It is up to us. I am optimistic we will share.

More: forbes.com

I am writing about economic sharing now... essentially, distributing the future. Where we put research dollars to solve medical and public health problems will have a big impact on that. Cancer research dollars have been flat in the public sector for years, despite some big advances in genomics and treatment. I still believe, with all the private innovators around, that government plays a key role in research. As new technologies roll out, price points for different types of care could narrow or widen, depending on how we treat medical research and implementation.

Government funding for basic research is important and needed. But in this exponential era, entrepreneurs can do what only governments and big research labs could before--solve big problems. They can find new cures for disease, develop sensor based devices to monitor and enhance health, make food, energy, and clean water abundant, and so on.

So let's not look to government--it is bureaucratic and obsessed with politics. Entrepreneurs need to step in now and solve humanity's problems. They can.

I'm a huge fan of public-private partnerships. I spoke shortly after the recession started to a group of black public administrators. I explained part of the reason for the sharp decline in African-American employment was our reliance on public sector jobs, and they had to create alliances with industry. I think there need to be partnerships so that the question of what is best for the common good comes to fore quickly in the process of making the future.

I am not a huge fan of "public" anything. The less the better! I believe in motivated entrepreneurs challenging conventions and norms, thinking outside the box, and focusing their energies on making the world a better place. What government does things like this? What sort of partnership with government would tolerate radical thinking and solutions?

The African-American community has to look beyond government and industry and find ways to help itself--to uplift itself. There is no reason it can't. It doesn't need handouts, it needs motivation and mentorship.

How did public sector jobs become "handouts"? They're jobs. And I think there are compelling reasons to keep a foot in the public sector, but there's an overeliance in part because racial discrimination plays out differently in public and private sector employment.

I think that until the Civil Rights movement, black communities were far more income-mixed. Segregation caused clusterings of black families who created some amazing communities, like two my family come from -- Westmoreland County, VA (farmers) and Turner Station, MD (urban mixed-income black community, with both wealthy and poor.)

I would like to see African-Americans reclaim some of the retail in black-majority communities... all communities but especially those.

Farai, as long as the black community looks to others to help it--in whatever form this may be, it won't get ahead. It has to unite and help itself.

It is not only retail that the community can reclaim, it can also start developing and marketing products that are geared to its tastes, it can develop creative new solutions to big problems.

Why does every discussion of uplifting the African-American community have to begin with government jobs or industry partnerships? Why not begin with new entrepreneurial ventures and mentorship?

Black folks, in my experience, are very entrepreneurial. At one point in the past decade, black women had the highest rate of starting new businesses. But many don't scale easily (say, daycare operator), or that fail, in part due to lack of experience and or undercapitalization.

There are businesses that feed people; and then there are businesses that build wealth for employees and investors. I think the barriers to access of certain private jobs and private capital -- which you have documented -- will require new solutions. But we should not abandon the public sector. I am no fan of the way government works. I have said to several Congresspeople, "I can't imagine going to a job every day where half of people want you to fail."

Farai, if I had to fight one battle, it would be to empower these folks to become successful entrepreneurs. That means teaching them the right skills, providing mentorship, having the community come together to buy from them and lend other support, and to put the most successful on a pedestal so that they provide inspiration for the next generation.

The more you rely on the public sector, the more you are going to hold the community back.

I feel I have to respond once more, and then I will agree to partly disagree. I agree the long term economic health of the black community will be better if more people are employed in the private sector.

But I don't think government is inefficient beyond repair. We are dealing with a jobs/labor market shift to episodic employment, and the hysteresis (long term unemployment) may last a while. There is also a race/culture shift going on, as evidenced by the sniping within the GOP over new strategies (not to mention Gen. Colin Powell's bracing statements).

The guy being sworn in today certainly has a vital public sector job... President of the United States. But there are many great public employees like my grade-school teachers.

Sadly, even the President has not done much for the black community. So why waste energy on Government? Why not marshal the resources of the community to uplift itself?

Related, but coming from a more spiritual place... a recent talk I gave on "Right Livelhood, American Style"... or ethical capitalism. Some people would argue capitalism can never be ethical. I'm not one of those people. But I would argue for a broader moral compass in the business world. I gave a lot of examples in this talk for Spark Camp from religion, but it is neither confined to one religion nor confined to religion at all.

youtube.com

If I can merge this convo with the one on stories the press has missed: it's the calcification of social mobility. In New York, nannies and home health care services are predominantly West Indian or African immigrants. They work for minimum wage, often without overtime, and until Obamacare kicks in next year many won't have access to healthcare themselves. (And in the nine states that refuse to expand Medicaid there will be even more). American society is becoming stratified in ways that summon images of India. The lack of access to a decent education has made it more and more difficult for black American children in public schools to rise above their station.

Agreed June... but I think that calcification of social mobility (great term, btw) can be reversed if we have the collective and political will to do so. I did this piece on the lack of Tea Party comment on Romney's 47 percent remarks. I think a lot of white Americans also are feeling constricted social mobility and Romney lost them at that point.

Conversations about social mobility fascinate me, because they happen in two separate spheres: the economics section, where the decline of solid middle class jobs is documented through the changing nature of work and the personal interest (style) section which uses a hook to illustrate the broader structural workings of poverty. I'd love to see the two converge a bit more. This Washington Post piece on a girl attempting to climb out of poverty frustrated me as I read it: articles.washingtonpost.com

The article was a voyeuristic view of poverty, with questionable items presented with no further comment or investigation. The reporter followed Tabitha's story well, but ignored the rest of the family - and most people aren't in poverty alone.

There is some light digging into the economic circumstances of the area, but when Tabitha's sister decides to stop going to school, there is no further investigation or understanding. Was she being bullied? Was she depressed? Did she, like so many others, start feeling worn down by feeling like a failure each day? I feel like the relative level of privilege in press corps leads us to miss some key aspects to stories about social mobility - links to mental health, addiction, or collapsing social systems are often under-explored. Does it make sense to have a welfare policy that discourages people from working? Does it make sense to allow a minimum wage that is not a living wage? The framework is vital.

Along those lines, I've loved the reporting on the mounting pressure on Americans, particularly the crowd-sourced stories on tumblr. Yahoo did a project called Down but Not Out, putting faces and stories to the long term unemployed, then expanding to looking at mortgages and student loans: downbutnotoutletters.tumblr.com

A clear theme is emerging: Americans bought into the Dream (home ownerships and college educations) without realizing how the reality of those dreams has changed. In combination with a competitive, machine aided (cbsnews.com), global workforce, Americans have lost ground and found themselves unable to catch a break - much less a bootstrap. And I think we are only seeing the beginning of the stories.

Wow, Down But Not Out is powerful. I am working on a book now where, among many other people, I profile a woman who became homeless after she quit a job to take care of her dying father, who lived across the country. She thought she could get another job but then the economy bottomed out and Yuma, AZ had a 26% unemployment rate. She has found work.

I a hate to see people spending down their retirement savings. The woman in Yuma spent them down and then became homeless. Even though she has a job now she doesn't have retirement savings. Anyway, I think long-term unemployment is the chute in the chutes-and-ladders of social mobility. The ladder is investment income, because of the difference in taxation on capital gains v. ordinary salary.

Posted without comment. ;-) 25.media.tumblr.com

There is something very American, for good and ill, about the Undercapitalized Millionaire Syndrome (UMS, and of course totally invented). In the short term, irrational hope can offer a burst of energy. In the long run, the delusion is draining.

One item missing here re: social mobility is tied to access to education--affordable, non-debt-crippling college education. Granted, we need even better high school graduation rates and grades from Black/Latino kids too, but once these kids graduate high school and get into college, the rates of dropping out of college (see recent NYTimes feature following three Latina students) are higher for poor minorities and rates of 'bad' student loan debt (read: private loans) are too high.

To Vivek's point re: entrepreneurism, keep in mind many of us have/had no financial safety net or support should a business fail and education is key to economic growth in a less risky way. When there's no net, you're more likely to not swing so high. That's OK

Food for thought, Carmen. People are seriously questioning the value of an education. What do you think?

I'd love more education for minority students on how to manage the college system/process, personally and culturally, as well as how to pay for it in a smarter way. All this increases chances for real ROI (return on investment). While mentoring & working w/Latino & Black students going into college and applying for past 15+ years, the lack of clear, informed strategies to get that degree is frightening. We need to improve that.

YES! Since about 2010, every talk I give where young minority students are present, I get the question: "Is this degree worth it??"
Hell yes...

That question is one only the most elite of us can dare to ponder. Like I mentioned, most kids of color have no financial safety nets, no connections to ensure help with starting a business and making it a success. BUT - that degree needs to be gotten with savvy. Not for the sake of getting a degree. It needs to be directed, treated like what it is: an investment and a business/economic/life strategy.