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Here's what you had to say during this week's Flyover. Use the audio player above to hear the show. 

 The fabled American dream suggests that grit, determination and hard work are all it takes to be successful in this country. 

But there's one other little thing you need for this bootstraps theory of to work out: money.

And even if you have some cash to start, social mobility 

 from The Washington Center for Equitable Growth:

 in the U.S., and there's glaring racial inequity. The U.S. Census Bureau last week dumped a massive data set studying Americans from 2011 through 2016. 

While overall median household income increased to $59,039 in 2016, it's crucial to take note of the racial disparities. Here's the census' breakdown for median household income by race: 

Then there's the gender gap: men's median annual income was $10,000 more than women's in 2016, per the census. (Disclaimer: The census only offered data for these four broad racial groups and two sexes.)

Considering all this, we have some questions: Does accepting the American dream mean that we're willing to say that the people who are struggling don't deserve to succeed? Does the allure of the American dream cloud our ability to recognize systems that foster disparities? 

This week on Flyover, we want to hear about your experiences living in a world that assumes a bootstraps-focused meritocracy is the reality, not just the myth it appears to be.

 — Editorial page editor for the Detroit Free Press and host of WDET's 

Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America

Here's some of what you had to say on this week's program:

https://twitter.com/jennbaum724/status/909513646421790721

https://twitter.com/CoMoBecca/status/909512652526891008

https://twitter.com/studiolaguna/status/909512177991733248

https://twitter.com/Darl1ngN1kk1/status/909518050742767617

https://twitter.com/Darl1ngN1kk1/status/909518600167403521

https://twitter.com/KenSmith/status/909517393940140033

https://twitter.com/KenSmith/status/909519134882451457

The fabled American dream suggests that grit, determination and hard work are all it takes to be successful in this country.   But there's one other little thing you need for this bootstraps theory to work out: money.  

The idea that hard work alone can help you climb the economic ladder is falling apart.

S1E2: The myth of a 'bootstraps' America

Go Deeper.

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