David Brooks and Ross Douthat are both singing the same tune about Robert Putnam's work on income inequality -- They believe that the tribulations of poorer Americans are caused as much by a breakdown in the culture as by a lack of money.  On the face of it, this is a bit like treating somebody with hypothermia by delivering a cold weather safety lecture while not sharing your coat.

Douthat argues that poor people in better cultural climates have exhibited the virtues of work, thrift, sobriety and delayed gratification that helped get their kids ahead, if not themselves. Today's poor, he and Brooks argue, don't benefit from such moral strength.  They lay the blame on the poor and on the rich who, from their position of superior influence, led the culture into a moral abyss of casual sex, divorce on demand and radical investment banking without the requisite noblesse oblige.

The mental failure here is that economic stories are not morality tales or fairy tales.  Brooks and Douthat are sophisticated enough to realize that hard work is not always rewarded.  They also know that some people get rewards that seem out of proportion to the amount of work they do or the quality of that work.  They believe in a quietly suffering poor, willing to work and play by the rules even when the rewards are few.

As for how the poor became poor, Brooks and Douthat seem to have found all sorts of reasons, grounded not in the unfair economics of our system, but in the choices made by the poor.  It's not so much that they "blame the poor for their circumstances."  Yes, that's what they're doing, but they do this so that they can argue that the poor can be changed (through moral instruction) while the system is left intact. Let's teach these people to stop bringing troubles upon themselves!

This economic argument, fought at the household level, reminds me of the post Financial Crisis arguments we had for the foreclosure pandemic and the conversation being had in Europe right now over Greece's sovereign debt.  People who should know better are pretending that economics is all encapsulated by the tale of the ant and the grasshopper.

But Greece's debt was not fueled only by the avarice of Greece's government.  Back in better economic times, underwriters and bond investors around the world were lining up to convince Greece to issue bonds and to facilitate the issuance.  Why?  Because they knew they could charge more interest on Greek bonds while still counting on the same backstop from the European Central Bank that they believe would kick in were their French or German bond holdings ever to near default.  For the same reason, banks issued mortgages to subprime borrowers and then sold the loans soon after they were issued.  Poor Americans are issued credit by payday lenders and other legalized loan sharking operations, often with confusing terms and unclear costs.

The economic lives of families and countries are never so simple as working hard, saving or not. We should be honest about the complexities of our system and we should take practical steps, rather than make more pronouncements, to address bad outcomes.  Poor people really do need more money.

A couple of other points here.  One is that Brooks and Douthat are clever.  If I say, for example, that the wealth of the Kardashian or Hilton heirs is proof of an unfair, rigged system, they will largely agree with me, and then point out that it's our sick culture that turned the Kardashians and Hiltons into celebrities.  It's a ridiculous argument, as we've been making celebrities of the very wealthy forever.

Another point is that Douthat uses the phrase "unskilled worker," which is a phrase that I try never to use (and if you see me using it, please call me out).  All jobs require skills. I cannot quit my job and become a school janitor tomorrow.  I actually lack the skills.  I've done retail work that might be considered "unskilled." I don't think it was.  Dealing with customers is hard.  Trying to make an extra buck by participating in an overnight store inventory is to learn, at about 3 a.m., that you have not signed up for "easy money" and that the work is both mentally and physically challenging.  I do believe that Douthat would be physically exhausted to the point of tears working a double shift waiting tables at a mid-priced restaurant and that he would surprise himself by the mistakes he would make under physical and mental stress.

The phrase "unskilled worker" is another attempt to place blame, as the skills are supposedly out there for the taking, if people are sufficiently motivated and interested.  I'm sure Douthat fancies himself "skilled" in much the way that I fancy myself "skilled." 

But really... there's only one person in America who can be confident that he has any real skill.



Wooo!