New York Times reporter calls colleagues un-American?

Ohio Liberal has a post entitled Class in America in which he highlights several New York Times articles in the Class Matters series. With article titles like Shadowy Lines That Still Divide, When Richer Weds Poorer, Money Isn't the Only Difference , No Degree, and No Way Back to the Middle (by the way, don't tell Bill Gates that) and Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind the Times wallows in sociological and class angst.

It appears that Charles McGrath didn't get the memo on the series. How else can you explain his oversight in writing the following:

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There is an un-American secret at the heart of American culture: for a long time, it was preoccupied by class. That preoccupation has diminished somewhat - or been sublimated - in recent years as we have subscribed to an all-purpose, mass-market version of the American dream, but it hasn't entirely disappeared. The subject is a little like a ne'er-do-well relative; it's sometimes a shameful reminder, sometimes openly acknowledged, but always there, even, or especially, when it's never mentioned.

And to throw irony on top of unwitting insult the title of his article is 'In Fiction, a Long History of Fixation on the Social Gap'

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

If you find yourself depressed by the 'glass is half empty' analyses of this series, Porkopolis recommends that you read Walter Williams' Only in America for some self-motivating therapy:

...According to Drs. Thomas Stanley and William Danko's research published in their book "The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy," 80 percent of today's American millionaires are first-generation rich.

Drs. Stanley and Danko listed other characteristics of these 8.2 million millionaire households. Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth. More than half never received as much as a dollar in inheritance. Fewer than 25 percent received "an act of kindness" from a relative greater than $10,000, and 91 percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 from the ownership of a family business.

Update: Et Tu Bloge fisks the Times on their use of statistics in one of the articles as well.
Update: Larry Kudlow provides more perspective in Rich People Are Government’s Best Friend.
Update: More thougths from Alan Reynolds over at townhall.com in The top one percent.
Update: The hits just keep on coming on this meme. Powerline takes Paul Krugman's distortions on the middle class to task.
Update: Dafydd ab Hugh provides some additional powerful and thought provoking perspective again at Powerline. A must read!