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I think we should call this disconnect what it is - brainwashing. Americans (and those that consume their media) are told from childhood that they are the only country where it is possible to move from the bottom to the top. Outside observers can clearly see that this is not the case, but when presented with hard evidence to the contrary it is simply dismissed as some untruth.

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While it's not necessary to say "the only country" I think it IS necessary to "brainwash" people by potentially lying to them that it is possible to have economic mobility in order to actually enable it. If most people don't believe that they can have economic mobility then they simply won't even bother. In order to get many people to bother and try you need to convince everyone that it's possible, even if, in practice, few will manage to. It's a first step, a stepping stone.

Of course, besides convincing people that it's possible you need to have an economy that makes it possible. So that would be the second step.

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