For those of you with flip-top heads, who can take out your brains and give them a good rinsing off, I present to you the esteemed Gary Becker, featured expert on the topic:
"Well, it's unfair," Becker acknowledges. "The accident of birth, the accident of the genes we have, the accident of parents we have: It is unfair." But, Becker asks, what can the nation do about the inequalities of parents and genes? "Unless you think you're going to start switching babies around across families, as Plato recommended," he jokes. "You can't do that." Arguing Against the Dangers of a Fairer Economy Becker says it's dangerous for the government to force the economy to be fairer. Programs that take money away from the rich to give to the poor, Becker argues, mess with incentives. High-school kids may not be as motivated to go to college. Some college students might decide the cost of a higher degree isn't worth it. Over time, the United States could end up with a workforce that's not as highly educated, not as skilled. The country might not be as competitive. The economy might not grow as fast.
Arguing Against the Dangers of a Fairer Economy
Becker says it's dangerous for the government to force the economy to be fairer. Programs that take money away from the rich to give to the poor, Becker argues, mess with incentives. High-school kids may not be as motivated to go to college. Some college students might decide the cost of a higher degree isn't worth it. Over time, the United States could end up with a workforce that's not as highly educated, not as skilled. The country might not be as competitive. The economy might not grow as fast.
Someone recently recommended to me the Becker-Posner Blog, which I guess is supposed to be fair and balance because Posner is a lefty. Regrettably, I have more pressing things to do than watch one rich old white man who is pro-poverty exchange words with another rich old white guy who is pro-selling kids on the free market. Like, popping some popcorn or something... Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
I know what you are saying about "how the other side thinks," but I feel like I see the materialization of how the other side thinks every day, all around me.
And the thing is, so do they. We both work at this luxurious university surrounded by some of the most impoverished communities in the country. Impoverished and black. So I find that quip about the inequality of genes especially offensive. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
There are probably system reasons why a moderately unequal distribution of income is unavoidable or even good for the general march of the economy as a whole, but poverty? Absolute poverty is an unadulterated evil, and in terms of income it's not that expensive to lift everyone out of relative poverty, which cannot but be good for the economy unless cheap, abundant labour is a goal. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
The depravity of these kinds of views isn't nearly as shocking as the fact that they're being aired in public without a firestorm of criticism.
People should be pointing and laughing at these goons throughout the media, instead of taking them seriously.
But when we have any number of clowns being fobbed off on the public as analysts, pundits and deep thinkers, the fact that they're being taken seriously has a kind of depressing inevitability to it.
This is the kind of crap that inspired them, when left unchecked for a couple of decades.
Tom could use the rigorous diet anyway. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
