While the realization that America is not the land of opportunity that it has long claimed to be is as disconcerting to others as it is to Americans, inequality of opportunity at the global scale is even greater. One cannot really claim that the world is “flat” when a typical African receives investment in his or her human capital of a few hundred dollars, while rich Americans get a gift from their parents and society in excess of a half-million dollars.
尽管意识到美国并不是它一直宣称那样充满机会的事实令世界其他国家的人和美国人一样感到窘迫不安，但全球层面上的机会不平等更严重。当非洲人均只能获得几百美元的人力资本投入，而富有的美国人则从其父母和社会得到超过50万美元的人力资本投资之时，我们再也无法声称世界是“平的”。