Friday, May 12, 2006
Do they practice what they preach?
This is from today's Washington Post: "Basics, Not Luxuries, Blamed for High Debt."
Here is my highly selective quotation:
(A new study) was conducted by the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank that describes itself as progressive and is run by former Clinton White House chief of staff John D. Podesta. "Very little can be explained by frivolous consumer spending," says Christian E. Weller, author of the report and a senior economist at the center. His views were echoed in a news conference by Elizabeth Warren, a law professor at Harvard University who analyzed the sources of debt that emerge in bankruptcy filings and reviewed the results of Weller's study.
Many families, particularly middle-income households, aren't acknowledging that declining incomes mean they must radically adjust their standards of living, according to Weller and Warren. Warren suggested that families that can no longer realistically afford their single-family houses should move to condominiums, consider limiting their families to a single automobile, get second jobs to pay off debt, or move to less expensive school districts that may not have the highest test scores but where children perform acceptably well.
I basically agree with what the article says (here's the link if you want the whole thing) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/11/AR2006051101779.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
but it still bothers me that a couple of high-priced academics feel entitled to tell ordinary Americans how to live. Do Christian Weller and Elizabeth Warren live in condominiums themselves? Do they own cars? Do they have children who go to less well-regarded public schools?
We know from their credentials that they live in large cities with well developed public transit systems. How many of the citizens they are scolding have the same options?
I appreciate studies like this that help explain how it is that a small elite can hold on to lifestyle benefits that many Americans can no longer afford. And I totally agree with their point about choosing a school district. As a matter of fact, I am coming to believe more and more that the struggling schools can provide a better education for most individual students than the richer, more complacent schools with the higher rankings.
Still and all, I resent the judgmental tone.
Here is my highly selective quotation:
(A new study) was conducted by the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank that describes itself as progressive and is run by former Clinton White House chief of staff John D. Podesta. "Very little can be explained by frivolous consumer spending," says Christian E. Weller, author of the report and a senior economist at the center. His views were echoed in a news conference by Elizabeth Warren, a law professor at Harvard University who analyzed the sources of debt that emerge in bankruptcy filings and reviewed the results of Weller's study.
Many families, particularly middle-income households, aren't acknowledging that declining incomes mean they must radically adjust their standards of living, according to Weller and Warren. Warren suggested that families that can no longer realistically afford their single-family houses should move to condominiums, consider limiting their families to a single automobile, get second jobs to pay off debt, or move to less expensive school districts that may not have the highest test scores but where children perform acceptably well.
I basically agree with what the article says (here's the link if you want the whole thing) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/11/AR2006051101779.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
but it still bothers me that a couple of high-priced academics feel entitled to tell ordinary Americans how to live. Do Christian Weller and Elizabeth Warren live in condominiums themselves? Do they own cars? Do they have children who go to less well-regarded public schools?
We know from their credentials that they live in large cities with well developed public transit systems. How many of the citizens they are scolding have the same options?
I appreciate studies like this that help explain how it is that a small elite can hold on to lifestyle benefits that many Americans can no longer afford. And I totally agree with their point about choosing a school district. As a matter of fact, I am coming to believe more and more that the struggling schools can provide a better education for most individual students than the richer, more complacent schools with the higher rankings.
Still and all, I resent the judgmental tone.
Comments:
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They have no idea. It's like getting practical advice from Oprah or Ken "I'm Only Worth 20 Million Now" Lay. Completely out of touch. Professors have one of the best gigs in America; easily one of the top ten best careers.
I read this just before I went to pull garlic mustard along the canal...we had a brief discussion of how easy-and common-it is for people to make suggestions of how other people should live their lives. Our world has so many ways of living, and we don't even understand the people in our own families and communities. Just the idea that buying a condo would save anyone money in Evanston is too absurd to even continue with the rest of the article.
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