America is the land of opportunity—that's the bedrock of the American dream. Many expect each generation to do better than the last.

That dream of economic mobility is alive and well for Pam Krank and her husband, Brian McGee. The two are proud owners of The Credit Department Inc., a successful business in the Minneapolis suburb of Mendota Heights.

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While many believe it's easier to move up the economic ladder in America than anywhere else in the world, the United States simply does not do very well on that score.

"This notion that we have about ourselves, as America being somehow exceptional in terms of our opportunity, is not accurate," says Erin Currier, director of the Economic Mobility Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "The data show that the United States actually has less relative mobility than Western European nations and Canada." 

Read the full article at npr.org.