I wonder why you’ve made the leap to assuming any significant measure of the 47% who can’t come up with $400 own any homes, let alone McMansions, or have college degrees from expensive schools or any school at all. More than 44% of Americans don’t own a home, and 65% of Americans over 29 don’t have a bachelors degree. Those numbers get much worse when we’re not talking about white Americans.

The “personal choice” most responsible for this growing precariousness seems pretty clearly the “choice” of attempting to manage during the 43rd consecutive year of income stagnation in our nation.