Assuming this is true, it’s not good:
The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles From Mom
Americans are becoming less and less mobile, staying put where they came from. The article declares this to be a result of a lack of adequate government care for the elderly, but I have to wonder if a big portion of it might also be a result of a drop-off in a culture of ambition and dreams. Used to be that coming of age meant heading towards a brighter horizon, which most often meant to go elsewhere to find your life… because what are the chance that you would be born and raised in that one place you were meant to be? If your dream was to become an astronaut, staying in Manhattan ain’t gonna do it. If you want to be a big rap star, Thatcher, Utah, ain’t the place. If you want to be a forest ranger, Los Angeles seems like not the place to ply your trade. But if you have become convinced to just be a paper pusher, a burger flipper, or some other entirely interchangeable, meaningless career… well, I guess you can do that just about anywhere.