When I first read David Brooks’ opinion piece on inequality, I thought “I can’t wait for Professor Reich to weigh in.”
I didn’t have to wait very long.
Occasionally David Brooks, who personifies the oxymoron “conservative thinker” better than anyone I know, displays such profound ignorance that a rejoinder is necessary lest his illogic permanently pollute public debate. Such is the case with his New York Times column last Friday, arguing that we should be focusing on the “interrelated social problems of the poor” rather than on inequality, and that the two are fundamentally distinct.
Baloney.
Read his full response: Robert Reich (David Brooks’ Utter Ignorance About Inequality).
Here’s the Brooks column.