How does that fair with ' poor people tend to stay poor '? When they are more likely to reach at least middle class ? Go argue with the paper , dawg , ctrl f stick and you will find all the evidence you need , not going to sit here with you running around with the goal post . It ' s undeniable that somebody born middle quintile has 26 % percent chance of staying in the middle quintile . That is obviously slightly higher than any other quintile in particular . The chance of him moving ANYWHERE but staying is 74 %. Moving from middle class to just barely a quintile lower or higher is oftentimes what is going on with the mobility here , but you ' re making it seem like people are insanely fluid in the directions they move with their income , and you ' re still completely ignoring the lack of mobility in lowerupper classes as well . f o r a m e r icanstorisefromlowerrungs . html ? sqmobilitystcsescp 1 pagewantedallBy emphasizing the influence of family background , the studies not only challenge American identity but speak to the debate about inequality . While liberals often complain that the United States has unusually large income gaps , many conservatives have argued that the system is fair because mobility is especially high , too everyone can climb the ladder . Now the evidence suggests that America is not only less equal , but also less mobile . Children from lowincome families have only a 1 percent chance of reaching the top 5 percent of the income distribution , versus children of the rich who have about a 22 percent chance . I guess middle class people can end up anywhere by virtue of already being in the middle , but my original statement of poor people tend to remain poor and rich people tend to remain rich is absolutely undeniable .