Oh, So I'm to Blame For Everything!

The Washington Post had a theme to its Sunday edition, and that theme was - "It's All Your Fault."

First there was this article laying out the precarious financial situation of the average household. While the average family income is $43,000, they owe over $2000 in credit card debt and many times that on their homes, and have no investments and no savings. Of course the Post attributes responsibility to the spendthrift American houshold, which can't be be bothered to save any money for their retirement.

Then there was George Will attacking John Edwards' recent focus on reducing poverty. According to Will, Edwards is embracing an old-fashioned, 1930's conception of poverty:

The 1930s paradigm has been refuted by four decades of experience. The new paradigm is of behavior-driven poverty that results from individuals' nonmaterial deficits. It results from a scarcity of certain habits and mores -- punctuality, hygiene, industriousness, deferral of gratification, etc. -- that are not developed in disorganized homes.

In other words, if you are poor, it is all your fault.

I wonder if it has occured to our well-fed elites that if the economy is growing at a "healthy" rate, but the vast majority of American households - both poor and middle class - are suffering from stagnant or declining incomes, then something bigger than individual flaws might be the cause? Because there is word for a situation in which all are contributing to an endeavor, but only a few are extracting the rewards. It's called exploitation, which may be the worst vice of all.