Social Mobility

Some years ago, on a business trip to Mexico City, I was hosted by one of Mexico's most prominent publishers. I have fond memories of a meal we shared with his family at a restaurant that would put the proliferating Mexican eateries in our area to shame. What I remember most, though, is the conversation we had on societal mobility.

In brief, my host marveled at the upward mobility of the American worker. How is it possible, he wanted to know, for Americans to change jobs so often or to move up the ladder to management and executive positions? By contrast, he explained that in his country such mobility is practically impossible. His sons, for instance, were sure to follow him in the publishing business; there was absolutely no question about their future careers. The same applied at all levels of business and industry, as career changes and promotion from within were extremely rare. Because there is little opportunity for advancement, the poor remain poor, the middle class remains small and stagnant, and the wealthy maintain a privileged and closed society.

There are parallels in social stagnation all over the world, not just in Mexico. The shining exception is the United States, the land of opportunity. No other country (except Canada to some degree) enjoys the freedom for an individual to develop, to create, to innovate, to succeed. Most of the workers in low-paying jobs today will advance to better-paying jobs tomorrow. If they don't, it's not because of the lack of opportunity. Unfortunately, this seems to be changing.

The shocking increase in families on Welfare, Disability, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Unemployment is more than just the result of a poor economy. To me, we're seeing the permanent effects of a nanny state that is creating a new form of slavery, the slavery of government dependency. As I described in a previous letter, there is a growing class of people in this country who are content to let the government take care of them rather than seeking to advance through their own personal initiative. They have abandoned ambition in favor of dependency. If this isn't a new form of slavery, then what is it?

I submit that we are indeed seeing a fundamental change in America, one sought and championed by the likes of Barack Obama. It is the abandonment of a purer liberalism that empathized with the poor, decried oppression and injustice, and championed equality, in favor of a corrupt liberalism whose fraudulent compassion  values the poor only for their votes.

           

A Royal Funk

            It is the day after the rout, and I have been in an all-day funk. I simply cannot believe that my fellow Americans re-elected the worst president of my lifetime.

            Obamacare, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, sustained unemployment, massive deficits, falling wages, depressed housing, high taxes, failed energy policy, failed economic policiy, failed Middle East policy, failure everywhere. What does it take to recognize incompetence? Yet, there they were: the adoring crowds, tears of joy steaming down their faces.
            White males, married women, seniors, Evangelicals, plus most of the people in the country's red-colored geography voted Republican. But they were no match for the massive one-sided turnout in the blue states of the Northeast, the Rust Belt, and the West Coast. We have seen it before: there are two Americas. Except for a handful of battleground states, both red and blue states went to huge majorities.
            How do we explain a solid Republican majority in the House and a preponderance of Republicans in governors' mansions, facing an impregnable Democratic majority in the Senate and a plurality of blue voters for the presidency? Is the nation doomed  by unbreachable divisions?
            Will it ever change? What are chances the two extremes will come together to solve the huge problems we face? On the one hand we have a president who has divided the country by demonizing the rich to justify his redistributive policies and create a permanent dependent class of reliable voters. On the other hand, we have a Republican Establishment that cannot shake the image that it spurns the pleas of immigrants, unmarried women, and the poor, while  favoring millionaires and fat cats on Wall Street. This is not a formula for comity.
            The last four years have not been good. But they will look great compared to what is coming. We are faced with Taxmageddon, Sequestration, rising taxes, increased spending, more business-killing regulations, a $20 trillion debt, and an unrelenting march to a European-style socialism. Yet, the media, with few exceptions, will continue to mute its criticism. It will not find fault with the Senate nor the White House. Instead, with Bush fading in the distance, it will blame the intransigence of the House and the greed of special interests as we sink into a longer and deeper recession.
            Until yesterday I was an optimist. Today?