THE TRUTH CONCERNING ALLEGED RISING INEQUALITY IN THE USA
Background
It is a fact that inequalities exist in America but they are almost always solidly rooted in immutable psychological traits such as IQ, industriousness, honesty, creativity, courage, etc. [See: AEI Monograph (1998) "Income Inequality and IQ" ]. Take IQ. According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth by age 28 to 36, the top 10% in cognitive ability have a median earned income 4.8 times the median for the bottom 10%. Indeed, "The Bell Curve" (1994) in part one, "The Emergence of a Cognitive Elite", found that IQ is one of the best single predictors of job productivity.
For proof that all psychological traits are firmly riveted in nature and not in nurture one need only read Prof. Robert Plomin's new book, "Blueprint: How DNA Makes U s Who We Are", (Nov. 2018) which is the most recent scholarly work on the psychology of human genetics. In "Blueprint" Plomin, one of the very top experts in the field of behavioral genetics asserts that "A century of genetic research shows that DNA differences inherited from our parents are the consistent life-long sources of our psychological individuality -- the "Blueprint" that makes us who we are." Prof. Plomin also reports that "... genetics explain more of our psychological differences -- not just mental health and school achievement but all psychological traits, from personality to intellectual abilities. Nature, not nurture is what makes us who we are." [Note: The Dec. 14, 2018 issue of Scientific American contains a very brief essay by Prof. Plomin titled "In the Nature-Nurture War, Nature Wins." and in it, Plomin admits that "Environmental influences are important " too, but they are largely unsystematic, unstable and idiosyncratic -- in a word, RANDOM." (Emphasis added) Plomin continues "These findings call for a radical rethink about parenting, education and the events that shape our lives. It also provides a novel perspective on equal opportunity, social mobility and the structure of society."]
In spite of this contrary scientific evidence that inequality is not rooted in economic factors, countless left-leaning economists, law professors, and political scientists insist, without foundation, that capitalism is the source for much of our nation's inequality. One needs only to read Prof. Joseph Stiglitz's "The Price of Inequality" (2013) or Prof. Thomas Piketty's tome, "Capital in the 21st Century" (2014) or Prof. Thomas Shapiro's "Toxic Inequality" (2017) and their calls for redistribution to understand that their driving motivation is a search for almost totally equal economic outcomes. They undertake this crusade in spite of the fact that even Lord Keynes believed that efforts to fight inequality hinder economic growth. [See: Foundation for Economic Education Aug. 11, 2018]. Even the IMF got it wrong. In a 2015 report titled "Causes and Consequences of Inequality," this organization errantly asserted that "Widening inequality is the defining challenge of our time. In advanced economies, the gap between rich and poor is at its highest level in decades." Interestingly, this barrage of unsupported claims prompted an author like Edward Conrad to produce a book, "The Upside of Inequality" in which he mistakenly states that capitalism is a cause of inequality but asserts that the overall impact is positive in that growth (rising GDP) has markedly improved everyone's standard of living.
But the unifying and driving force exhibited by all of these millenarian collectivists is a desire to eliminate economic inequality of outcomes. This deep-seated human drive for equality likely stems from our ancestral days living as small hunter-gatherer bands that wandered the several continents (except Antarctica) for over 100,000 years. Sharing the "wealth" was a possible adaptation that probably helped to ensure the survival of the group. Individualism likely played a subservient role to the collectivism of each clan. Of course, these people all lived on the edge of starvation at a level of servile poverty that is almost unimaginable today. [See: https://en.wikipedia.
Then about ten millennia ago humans mastered the science of agriculture which resulted in a more stable food supply and as a consequence population levels of our lineage began to rise. But, our farming forebears still lived in a condition of almost total abject poverty. [See: http://j-bradford-
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