Luck Run Amok—Part 4

Why Aren’t People Taking to the Streets?

A poll conducted every year since 1987 by the Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center asks people whether they agree or disagree with the statement, “People like me have a good chance of improving our standard of living.” Up until 2021, the number agreeing with that statement has always been above 50%, with highs of 83% in 1987 and 78% in 2000. Then the number agreeing collapsed to 25% in 2025. Our unshakable optimism has been shaken.

The traditional belief that America is a land of opportunity was reinforced by the everyday observation that many of our relatives and friends move up and down the stairs of Schumpeter’s hotel. We might see a lower middle-class family in which three of four children go to college, with one child becoming a doctor and another marrying a lawyer. We might know an upper middle-class family where one child becomes a professor and another drifts in and out of various addictions.