How does this man still have a job?
by David Atkins
Renowned New York Times columnist David Brooks takes a look at the alarming statistics on inequality of income and opportunity, and uses his profound intellect to come to this conclusion:
Equal opportunity, once core to the nation’s identity, is now a tertiary concern. If America really wants to change that, if the country wants to take advantage of all its human capital rather than just the most privileged two-thirds of it, then people are going to have to make some pretty uncomfortable decisions.
Liberals are going to have to be willing to champion norms that say marriage should come before childrearing and be morally tough about it. Conservatives are going to have to be willing to accept tax increases or benefit cuts so that more can be spent on the earned-income tax credit and other programs that benefit the working class.
Brooks thinks that two-thirds of the country is doing OK, and it’s only the bottom third that is in trouble? That moralizing about having a wedding ceremony before childbirth will solve income inequality? That conservatives are somehow opposed to benefit cuts? That the best way to help the poor and middle class is to expand tax credits that further erode the ability to spend on needed programs like education? Most of what Brooks says is nonsensical or based on false premises, and the rest is delusional.
There are millions of Americans with analytical and writing skills superior to those of Brooks. Some of them can be found in the nation’s middle schools. That the New York Times still sees fit to employ Brooks is one minor symptom of the nation’s disregard for meritocratic equality of opportunity. Why does this guy still have a job, again?
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