Fatalism vs. Economic Data

When members of five different countries (Germany, France, England, Spain, and the US) were polled regarding whether they agreed with the following statement: "Success in life is determined for forces outside of our control", more people in all four other countries agreed than that of the US. The study then goes on to state that in the US, higher education has a positive correlation with disagreement to the previous statement. Ironically, this finding directly contrasts that found by the Pew Economic Mobility Project, which states that social mobility in the US is actually less than that in the other four countries (ex: factors such as parental education)

-C.C. Wang

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/fatalism-and-the-american-dream/?ref=economy