contrast, middle-income (-39%) and lower-income (-41%) families had larger declines in wealth. The larger losses among middle-income families resulted in the wealth gap between upper- and middle-income families rising from 2007 (4.5) to 2010 (6.2).

The latest data reinforce the larger story of America’s middle class household wealth stagnation over the past three decades. The Great Recession destroyed a significant amount of middle-income and lower-income families’ wealth, and the economic “recovery” has yet to be felt for them. Without any palpable increase in their wealth since 2010, middle- and lower-income families’ wealth levels in 2013 are comparable to where they were in the early 1990s.

It could help explain why, by other measures, the majority of Americans are not feeling the impact of the economic recovery, despite an improvement into go with it. That's because small-minded people confuse a lack of height with a lack of authority. It is something short men have always known. Look at how John Howard was mocked for years as "little Johnny Howard" and underestimated by his opponents even though at 176.5 centimetres he is about average height. His political success is even more fascinating given he has beaten much taller men. In the US, the taller presidential candidate usually wins. "What chance does a 5 foot 7 inch [170 centimetres] billionaire Jew who is divorced really have of becoming president?" the New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently joked. The subsequent discussion focused on the barrier of his height.

It is Hall's contention that height affects how boys develop, the way people treat