THE HALLMARK OF THE UNDERCLASS

ncpa.org ^ | Thursday, October 06, 2005

[InvisibleChurch]

THE HALLMARK OF THE UNDERCLASS

Daily Policy Digest

ECONOMIC ISSUES

Thursday, October 06, 2005

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Versions of every program being proposed by the administration in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have been tried before and evaluated. We already know that the programs are mismatched with the characteristics of the underclass, says Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute.

Job training? Unemployment in the underclass is not caused by lack of jobs or of job skills, but by the inability to get up every morning and go to work. A homesteading act? The lack of home ownership is not caused by the inability to save money from meager earnings, but because the concept of thrift is alien. You name it, we've tried it. It doesn't work with the underclass, says Murray.

Consider:

The crime rate has been dropping for 13 years, but the proportion of young men who grow up unsocialized and who, given the opportunity, commit crimes, has not; criminality, measured by the percentage of the population under correctional supervision has risen from 1.9 percent in 1992 to 2.4 percent in 2003. Among black males ages 20-24, the percentage not working or looking for work in 1954 was 9 percent, but that rate grew to 30 percent in 1999, a year when employers were frantically seeking workers for every level of job. The illegitimacy ratio, the percentage of births by single women, was 4 percent in the 1950s and has risen to 35 percent as of 2003; the black illegitimacy ratio in 2003 was 68 percent, up from 24 percent in the 1960s. Poor people who are not part of the underclass seldom need help to get out of poverty. Despite the exceptions that get the newspaper ink, the statistical reality is that people who get into the American job market and stay there seldom remain poor unless they do something self-destructive. And behaving self-destructively is the hallmark of the underclass, says Murray.

Source: Charles Murray, "The Hallmark of the Underclass," Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2005.

For text (subscription required):

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112795305361255317,00.html

For more on Economy:

http://www.ncpa.org/iss/eco/

[InvisibleChurch]

Unemployment in the underclass is not caused by lack of jobs or of job skills, but by the inability to get up every morning and go to work.

OUCH

[thebaron512]

Sorry, but no work: no food, no housing, etc. Welfare is not the solution to correct this. People are making excuses for others.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Bump!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If I could just work from bed...

[txroadhawg]

This is painfully obvious. You can only help those who want to be helped.

[BenLurkin]

It is the truth. Now if we could just pay the underclas to stop having children we could make progress in eliminating poverty.

[wideawake]

In America, poverty is not a situation beyond your control.

[master thesis]

The solution is to bind the "Two Americas." This country was not free for everyone until 1965, since then this country has been divided by the dispersment of property taxes.

[Black Tooth]

For me getting up for work is easy. The only problem I have nowadays is there doesn't seem to be a dime left after getting paid.

[BenLurkin]

It is the truth. Now if we could just pay the underclas to stop having children we could make progress in eliminating poverty.

[Terabitten]

In America, poverty is not a situation beyond your control.

The real problem is that as Americans, we have a fundamental misunderstanding of what poverty is. I challenge any liberal to go spend some time in the 3rd world sh*thole of your choice, then come back to the US and tell me where the "poor" people are.

Hint: There aren't any.

[Publius6961]

Those statistics are hair-raising and intolerable.

... but racist.

No further discussion is allowed.

[Publius6961]

Your post makes absolutely no sense to me.

Can you elaborate when you're sober?

[calrighty]

The problem is weening them off the dole. We have 4 generations who believe Section 8 housing and food stamps are their RIGHT as Americans.

[BipolarBob]

When I show up for work, I've done my part. It's their job to get something out of me.

[master thesis]

Thats a very ignorant thing to say.

25% of minorities live under poverty, what do you think that number was before 1965, was it their fault then?

Why don't you try something; go to an inner city school and try to blame that on minorities.

[Gay State Conservative]

Welfare is,and has been for many years,a career choice in this country.And that's exactly the way the Kennedys,Clintions and Jesse Jacksons of this country want it!

[eleni121]

Painfully true.

Late night TV and partying and "the early bird..." do not mix.

[JimSEA]

Unemployment in the underclass is not caused by lack of jobs or of job skills, but by the inability to get up every morning and go to work.

Twelve years as a day's pay employee and 13 years in labor relations taught me the truth of this statement beyond contest. The number one reason for mine employee discharge by a country mile -- absenteeism!!!!

[auntyfemenist]

So true. Many of my friends have average jobs (less than $15 an hour), small, modest homes (which they own), two decent used or older vehicles and just a few bucks in reserve cash. They would be considered at least not rich. I know a few people who could have the same things, but refuse to work. They just can't seem to stay on a job.

My best friend waited tables and her husband has held the same job in a warehouse for 10 years. They have two kids and one on the way. They are happy, they are fine because they have worked consistently. The true underclass does not do this.

It used to be the underclass was not nurtured to grow through federal subsidies. People had to figure out how to make a go of life or, well, not. Society also used to attach moral stigma to people who lacked the virtue to hold a job, stay off alcohol and stay our of trouble with the law. We don't do that anymore because it isn't politically correct to make people accountable.