Ayn Bland

Is there a more easily rewarded person in America than David Brooks (other than every other conservative pundit of course)? Here he is, Bobo Fetid, in all his "glory" circa 2005:

Anybody who has lived in Europe knows how delicious European life can be. But it is not the absolute standard of living that determines a people's morale, but the momentum. It is happier to live in a poor country that is moving forward - where expectations are high - than it is to live in an affluent country that is looking back.

Which is a rather amazingly stupid quote even then, let alone now, for a guy who goes out of his way to cheer-lead Ayn Rand disciple Paul Ryan. They think alike, trickle down uber alles.

But it turns out that in economics, like diplomacy, David Brooks is consistently, grossly wrong.

Those poor suffering stagnant Euros couldn't possibly understand the economic, classless dynamism of modern 'murica, right? Wrong:

“Most studies find that, in America, about half of the advantages of having a parent with a high income are passed on to the next generation,” their report concludes. “This means that one of the biggest predictors of an American child’s future economic success — the identity and characteristics of his or her parents — is predetermined and outside that child’s control...There is little available evidence that the United States has more relative mobility than other advanced nations. If anything, the data seem to suggest the opposite.”

But a fantasist destined for the benefits of the welfare state said otherwise in a fictional work written during the Eisenhower Administration it...must...trump...reality.

(pic via monkey_bob99x at flickr.com)

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]