THE AMERICAN DREAM GOES ON

Mortimer Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report, says income inequality has had little traction thus far as a political issue, partly because many middle-class Americans have moved up:

• There are 12 percent more households earning in excess of $100,000 than 20 or so years ago.
• Those making less than $30,000 have not increased.
• So virtually the entire "decline" of the middle-class group has come from people moving up the income ladder, not down.
• Some 82 percent of those born into poverty are much better off than their parents and more than a third of them have made it into the middle class - or higher.

The attitude of Americans also contributes to the low combustibility of income inequality, says Zuckerman. Americans, quite simply, believe that plenty of opportunities exist to get ahead: more than two thirds of Americans concur with the statement that people are rewarded for intelligence and skill -- the largest percentage across 27 countries taking part in an international survey of social attitudes.

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