We celebrate this Thanksgiving in times of near-record income inequality and near-record levels of poverty. Many Americans rationalize this with the comfortable myth that in America, anyone with enough grit and gumption can climb society's ladder.

The most durable message from the Occupy Wall Street encampments across the nation is also the simplest: "We are the 99%." But are the implications of that message fair? Is there a widening gap between rich and poor? Are those doing well just a fraction of the populace?

You have to wonder: Could Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police chiefs around the country be secretly backing the Occupy Wall Street movement?

We like to think of the United States as the type of place where anyone with a strong work ethic and healthy dose of ambition can make it to the top.A better predictor seems to be whether Mom and Dad have a college degree.

Despite the widespread belief among Americans that they’re destined to do better than their parents, Americans are more likely to live as well as or worse than their parents than their counterparts in many European countries.