Basic Economics Works in Connecticut Too

I recently attended an awards event. One of the award recipients is a surgeon who currently lives in Connecticut. He gave a lovely speech, but I must take issue with one line of argument.

In his speech, he compared the lives of the people in Greenwich, CT, with the lives of the people in Bridgeport, CT. He chalked up the differences to "social justice" disparities. Whereas I am all for "justice" issues, I'm not very keen on "social justice" issues. Primarily because it is a nonsensical concept. Justice is justice. The adjective distorts its meaning.

I obviously cannot speak to the personal experience of every person in Connecticut, but if someone has faced an injustice, there are plenty of laws to address such things. But I imagine the disparities between Greenwich and Bridgeport have little to do with justice.

Lets's take 10 friends: 

• Bill decides to drop out of HS and start a life of drinking and petty crime
• Susie runs away from home and gets pregnant with her 17 year old boyfriend
• Betty finishes high school, but does not pursue higher ed. She's content with part-time hours at Macy's
• Tony finishes high school and goes to bartender school.
• Jane attends a local community college and gets a job as an assistant store manager
• Veronica becomes a certified paralegal
• Jim earns a bachelor's degree in Gender Studies
• Kamal earns a bachelor's degree in Computer science
• Rama earns a degree in biology and goes to Med School. Enters general practice.
• Daria completes Med School and becomes a top Neurosurgeon.

Now, what would be the reason for the disparity in income and life circumstances among this group of friends? Well, the answer is obvious: a combination of ability and life choices. And even within a certain profession some will do better than others based on particular factors. Veronica may become an excellent paralegal who works hard and becomes a very valuable asset. Betty may rise to become a regional manager with Macy's or she might never really strive to be better and settle for being a departmental worker. Jane may take her CC degree and get that Regional Manager's job. Maybe Betty doesn't have the capacity to be a manager while Jane does.

There are countless reasons why individuals live where they live or earn what they earn. And even if we balanced out housing and income, some would squander what they have, mismanage it, lose it to addictions and other poor life choices. Obviously, there are individual instances where someone is not completely at fault for his/her circumstances, but we can hardly chalk up all disparities to "social justice" or even "justice" issues.

It is argued that "access" is a social factor. If that is the argument, we must ask, how many who have access throw away that access? How many drop out of high school? How many never apply to college? How many use their access to earn worthless degrees? How many get a job and give little effort? And if one squanders the access he is given, should he not be held accountable for the resulting circumstance?

We must also address the relative ease the wealthy have. That is true, but what makes them wealthy? Did the award-winning, successful surgeon (a refugee, btw) with whom we started, become wealthy by accident? If he were one of the friends in our group above, would he not understand why he lives in Greenwich and Bill lives in Bridgeport?

He earns far more than I do. Can I claim a social injustice based solely on that fact? Does he have some obligation to share his wealth with me or with a guy like Bill?

All we can do as a society is insure "justice," but justice must be blind. 

The primary culprit in culture. Despite what we are led to believe, "White" people are not the most successful Americans. Far from it. Other cultures, which value education and hard work, have succeeded (as a group) in America. Unfortunately, it is verboten to talk about cultural issues. And that is reason why the disparities will remain... or we buy into the lies and go full Venezuela and destroy the entire economy for everyone except the political elites.

Within cultures you have success disparities. If one Italian kid and his family value education and hard work while another chooses laziness and "street knowledge," it matters not that both are Italian. Along the same line, however, even if a kid and his family value education and hard work, not everybody can be a neurosurgeon. 

There are myriads of factors that go into success. Even where someone lives plays a role. But unless one can point to something like a Jim Crow law (which was an injustice, not a social injustice), we must look to statistical factors first.

Drop out of high school, get poor grades, get pregnant out of wedlock, become a poor worker... these are all success killers despite race, color, or creed. 

That doctor lives where he lives because he put in the time and energy to become successful. He was blessed with an intellect that allowed him to become a surgeon. No social program will make the lazy industrious, the deficient intellectually-capable, or poor choices into good ones.

Not flipping burgers