Professor Arthur Brooks contributes an excellent piece in today’s Wall Street Journal on the obsession with inequality on the left. John Edwards never tires of trying to win supporters by saying that the only way to end the misery of the poor is to elect him so he can bring them hope (and other people’s money). In the United States, however, there is a great deal of income mobility. Brooks points out that poor people often become un-poor on their own efforts. Then he adds this paragraph:
“Those who don’t rise will probably not become happier if we redistribute more income. Indeed, the effect may be just the opposite. Redistributionist policies tend to reduce incentives to create wealth, which means less economic growth and fewer jobs, and less charitable giving — all to the detriment of those lower on the income scale. But more important, redistributionism can, as the American welfare system has shown, turn beneficiaries into demoralized long-term dependents.”
