Brown University Professor Glenn Loury put forth a scathing condemnation of equity that unmasks how harmful it is to the people it’s intended to uplift.
👍Awesome post, Peter! It distills decades of government ineptitude, along with the disastrous results, into a comprehensive and understandable essay. Not much to add, other than this is a very deep hole for the country to dig out of. I guess the first step is to stop digging? 🤔🤔
Ironically, these same progressives are currently “outraged” (when are they not?) at modifications to ICE recruitment policies, decrying “reduced standards” for new recruits. And they do so with no sense of irony.
My Mom welded ammo boxes in a factory in my hometown of Jamestown, NY, until she saved enough money to attend and graduate from nursing school with her RN. She did some of her training at Bellevue Hospital during The War. My Dad returned from The War and attended Alfred University for three years, after which he dropped out and went to work in a local factory as an assembly line worker. When I asked him why he didn’t finish his bachelor’s degree and get a good job, he responded he only went to college to learn how to say “please pass the butter,” meaning discontinuing the frequent use of the “f-word” in his speech. The blessing for me was that I never viewed women as second class citizens, and sought women for partners who were intelligent and high achieving. While this is somewhat off point, it is a story portraying the effects of different personal expectations.
Degreed job, or job done by degree holders? I think only about 40% of degree holders actually work in what they studied.
I'm not in favor of tipping the scales toward repatriation of factory jobs. That's economic inefficiency that hurts the nation.
The good money today, for young people, is in the trades. No need to coerce anything, just stop telling them they need to get a 4 year degree to succeed.
The permanent underclass is a feature of the welfare-industrial complex which has a far greater incentive to perpetuate poverty than to resolve it. There are roughly 100 programs just at the federal level and each has a payroll to maintain, each has political benefactors who use it as a source of power, and each has created dependent constituencies. That no one can say which of the 100 programs are effective, which are not, and which duplicate others is immaterial and ignored. Because if someone assessed these things, at least some would be shuttered and DC can't have that. I look forward to the Loury video; he's dead on with the assertion that this system diminishes him as a human being and treats him as 'less than,' which has the side effect of making those outside of his group view him the same way. So, dependency AND division in one swoop.
And the equity scam continues, thanks to the unholy alliance between liberal politicians and voters who get suckered in. The promise of instant equity is an easier sell than the promise of freedom, because freedom means you'll have to actually WORK for material gratification, instead of just having it handed to you on a platter.
So much to unwrap here. AOC, Bernie, JB, Nancy, Kamala, Zohran et al really do believe that they would just do it better than you can. It really is an incredibly destructive mindset. How can you be against "free lunches"? How can you be against "free healthcare"? free college? the list goes on. Get on your high speed train to nowhere. Smug, envious and incompetent are no way to go through life.
👍Awesome post, Peter! It distills decades of government ineptitude, along with the disastrous results, into a comprehensive and understandable essay. Not much to add, other than this is a very deep hole for the country to dig out of. I guess the first step is to stop digging? 🤔🤔
Ironically, these same progressives are currently “outraged” (when are they not?) at modifications to ICE recruitment policies, decrying “reduced standards” for new recruits. And they do so with no sense of irony.
My Mom welded ammo boxes in a factory in my hometown of Jamestown, NY, until she saved enough money to attend and graduate from nursing school with her RN. She did some of her training at Bellevue Hospital during The War. My Dad returned from The War and attended Alfred University for three years, after which he dropped out and went to work in a local factory as an assembly line worker. When I asked him why he didn’t finish his bachelor’s degree and get a good job, he responded he only went to college to learn how to say “please pass the butter,” meaning discontinuing the frequent use of the “f-word” in his speech. The blessing for me was that I never viewed women as second class citizens, and sought women for partners who were intelligent and high achieving. While this is somewhat off point, it is a story portraying the effects of different personal expectations.
There has been time where those factory jobs paid better than a degreed job. Those times may be on their way back.
Degreed job, or job done by degree holders? I think only about 40% of degree holders actually work in what they studied.
I'm not in favor of tipping the scales toward repatriation of factory jobs. That's economic inefficiency that hurts the nation.
The good money today, for young people, is in the trades. No need to coerce anything, just stop telling them they need to get a 4 year degree to succeed.
The permanent underclass is a feature of the welfare-industrial complex which has a far greater incentive to perpetuate poverty than to resolve it. There are roughly 100 programs just at the federal level and each has a payroll to maintain, each has political benefactors who use it as a source of power, and each has created dependent constituencies. That no one can say which of the 100 programs are effective, which are not, and which duplicate others is immaterial and ignored. Because if someone assessed these things, at least some would be shuttered and DC can't have that. I look forward to the Loury video; he's dead on with the assertion that this system diminishes him as a human being and treats him as 'less than,' which has the side effect of making those outside of his group view him the same way. So, dependency AND division in one swoop.
Absolutely correct. The college grad bureaucrats fed on this gravy train is massive.
And the equity scam continues, thanks to the unholy alliance between liberal politicians and voters who get suckered in. The promise of instant equity is an easier sell than the promise of freedom, because freedom means you'll have to actually WORK for material gratification, instead of just having it handed to you on a platter.
Until we start speaking truths about how these things actually work... I fear collapse will be required first.
Great post.
So much to unwrap here. AOC, Bernie, JB, Nancy, Kamala, Zohran et al really do believe that they would just do it better than you can. It really is an incredibly destructive mindset. How can you be against "free lunches"? How can you be against "free healthcare"? free college? the list goes on. Get on your high speed train to nowhere. Smug, envious and incompetent are no way to go through life.