Thursday, February 04, 2010

Earning the right to live

Michael Barone, Wall Street Journal:

Why has the politics of economic redistribution had such limited success in America? One reason is that Americans, unlike Western Europeans, tend to believe that there is a connection between effort and reward and that people can work their way up economically. If people do something to earn their benefits, like paying Social Security taxes, that's fine. But giving money to those who have not in some way earned it is a no-no.

I've always enjoyed business narratives that ascribe the average American's inferior working experience to some intrinsic preference -- as if the fact that we don't enjoy as much vacation time or paid parental leave can best be explained by our "national values," not merely the values of our employers as they are administered nationally.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

does he really expect anyone to believe that europeans aren't, you know, working?

Ethan said...

"If people do something to earn their benefits, like..."

...being born into money?

drip said...

does he really expect anyone to believe that europeans aren't, you know, working? Actually, most people in the US believe that. Whether Barone does or not, I don't know, but part of the american conception of socialism is that socialists don't work. They have everything handed to them. From whom, or from whence, it comes goes without saying. Also unexplained is the source of wealth in america and why, if americans love their families so much more than socialists, they spend more time away from them attempting to earn a living than any other industrialized country. Most american workers are so alienated they don't even notice that a 50 hour week for 40 hours pay coupled with an hour a day commute is just crazy. They think they are working their way up.

JRB said...

I think what Michael Barone believes is that the American Enterprise Institute pays good money.

Anonymous said...

he prolly thinks he got into that elite private school in michigan as a 5 year old based on "merit."