I agree with the sentiment of wealth inequality. There’s a picture missing under the statistics though: income mobility.

While the situation of the bottom 90% is relatively unchanged, the people who make up the bottom 90% are different during each decade. I used to be part of the bottom 90% for most of my life. When I was a college student I was broke and paying half my tuition with the rest being covered by my working parents who graciously helped me at the expense of their retirement savings.

Now, less than 10 years after graduating, I have a wealth of experience that has translated to more financial freedom. I’m no longer part of the bottom 90% but my position there has been replaced by someone else. I may come back to it if I make bad financial decisions or lose my main paycheck but it’s a cycle. Poverty, wealth, then sometimes poverty again. Statistics can tell whichever story you want to tell.

America is doing just fine for now. Most of my old friends who grew up as poor college students with me are well off now, independent, able to have hopes and dreams. Many of them are even buying homes or planning big life moves. The rea tragedy is not the lack of money. It’s the lack of dreams. The lack of ambition. The feeing of hopelessness. That is worth fighting more than perceived “inequality”.