More opportunity just means more inequality, because a lot of people are clueless

This comes from PBS of all places, and it's one of those things that everyone sort of understands intuitively, but that most don't want to take the risk of saying publicly for fear of the hellfire that will rain down on them. And I don't want to put words in the mouth of economic historian Jerry Muller, who wrote the piece, but my summation of it is basically this:

You can try to address economic equality all you want by expanding opportunity, but the truth of the matter is that it won't make a dent in the problem because the same people who were capable enough to take advantage of the existing opportunities will be the ones who take advantage of the new ones. And the same people who had no clue how to access the old opportunity will be just as clueless now. Politics cannot solve the problem. The problem lies with people.

Inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist activity, and expanding equality of opportunity only increases it -- because some individuals, families, and communities are simply better able than others to exploit the opportunities for development and advancement that today's capitalism affords. Some of the very successes of western capitalist societies in expanding access and opportunity, combined with recent changes in technology and economics, have contributed to increasing inequality. And at the nexus of economics and society is the family, the changing shape and role of which is an often overlooked factor in the rise of inequality.

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Though capitalism has opened up ever more opportunities for the development of human potential, not everyone has been able to take full advantage of those opportunities or to progress very far once they have done so. Formal or informal barriers to equality of opportunity, for example, have historically blocked various sectors of the population -- such as women, minorities, and poor people -- from benefiting fully from all capitalism offers. But over time, in the advanced capitalist world, those barriers have gradually been lowered or removed, so that now opportunity is more equally available than ever before. The inequality that exists today arguably derives less from the unequal availability of opportunity than it does from the unequal ability to exploit opportunity. And that unequal ability, in turn, stems from differences in the inherent human potential that individuals begin with and in the ways that families and communities enable and encourage that human potential to flourish.

The whole piece - and the above excerpt is just a short taste of it - is really good. It looks at the role of the family, the role of women in the workplace and even the role of selective mating. The bottom line is that Americans need to stop buying the false narrative we hear so much from the likes of Barack Obama, the media and even some Republicans - that what we need in our economic system is more "fairness." They would have you think economic inequality stems from a system that drives all the wealth toward certain people while denying opportunities to others. Democrats and their media cheerleaders try to solve this in many ill-begotten ways, but for the purposes of this conversation I want to focus on two: 1. By redistributing income on the theory that the only thing keeping some people in poverty is simple lack of access to capital. Give them some, Democrats think, and watch how their lives improve. 2. Shoveling money into public institutions - especially higher education - that theoretically put more folks in a position to access opportunity. But here's what they miss: Just because you're carrying around that sheepskin doesn't mean you know how to find a job, keep a job and thrive in a job - and that's assuming you can get through college in the first place. Just because you get your hands on more money doesn't mean you know how to do the right things with it. Why do you think so many lottery winners end up worse off than they were before they won? This is a sensitive subject, and no politician wants to say it, but an awful lot of people don't succeed in this world because they don't know how to do the things that successful people do (or they refuse to do them). They don't know how to get out of bed every morning and show up somewhere on time. They don't know how to learn skills. They don't know how to get along with people. They don't know how to produce consistently. They don't know how to stay sober. They don't know how to maintain family stability, thus contributing to their inability to be reliable employees. And they don't have the slightest idea how to manage money. In fairness to the people I'm describing, many of these folks never had a chance. They were born into dysfunctional families and their parents didn't know any of this either, probably because they never learned it from their parents. This is why they call it generational poverty. You are born into a culture with certain behaviors and certain mores. They are what you know. They are what you do. You might learn certain survival skills within this culture, but the odds are against your learning to rise above it because there is no one to teach you. And it doesn't matter how many opportunities are created by the public or private sector if you don't have the slightest inclination to grab hold of them - even if you did know how. The really amazing thing is that anyone ever emerges from this impoverished subculture. It is a testament to the determination of certain people, and to the grace of God. Now, who is responsible for the pervasiveness of this subculture? You want to blame the government for enabling it instead of trying to change it? I will join you there. But this only demonstrates the truth of the matter - that politics cannot solve the problem of economic inequality when the real cause of the problem is that people are not equal. Of course, if everyone was equally capable of accessing opportunity, then it wouldn't be so easy to persuade people that they need to rely on Democrats, trial lawyers, unions or the liquor store that sells lottery tickets. At least poverty keeps someone fat and happy.