An Interesting Viewpoint On Wealth

Thomas Sowell posted an article at Townhall.com today about inequalities in the ability to create wealth. He points out that we are hearing a lot about inequalities in wealth, but what about the disparities in the ability to create wealth?

Mr. Sowell points out:

In a market economy, people pay us for benefiting them in some way — whether we are sweeping their floors, selling them diamonds or anything in between. Disparities in our ability to create benefits for which others will pay us are huge, and the skills required can develop early — or sometimes not at all.

The article reminds us that most of the professional golfers on the PGA tour have never won a tournament, but a few golfers such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won many.

There is a cultural aspect to this as well. In an ethnic groups where achievement in school in encouraged, there will be more students getting the education they need to succeed when they enter the work force. If a child is taught a good work ethic, he will achieve some measure of success. There was a recent study that showed that if a young person finished high school and got married before having children. his chance of being poor was much less than if he did not do those things. We don’t control our circumstances, but we are responsible for our actions, and to a great extent, those actions will be responsible for our success.

Mr. Sowell concludes:

Higher achieving groups — whether classes, races or whatever — are often blamed for the failure of other groups to achieve. Politicians and intellectuals, especially, tend to conceive of social questions in terms that allow them to take on the role of being on the side of the angels against the forces of evil.

This can be a huge disservice to those individuals and groups who are lagging behind, for it leads them to focus on a sense of grievance and victimhood, rather than on how they can lift themselves up instead of trying to pull other people down.

Again, this is a worldwide phenomenon — a sad commentary on the down side of the brotherhood of man.

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