Recent quotes:

Afternoon Must-Read: Helaine Olen: Poor Stories from [David] Brooks and [Ross] Douthat - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

the young Francie Nolan writes about the truth of her life in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the response from her teacher is less than sympathetic: ‘Drunkards belong in jail not in stories. And poverty. There’s no excuse for that. There’s work enough for all who want it. People are poor because they’re too lazy to work. There’s nothing beautiful about laziness.’… This world receded, not because post-war Americans suddenly acquired morals, but because they achieved prosperity, not to mention a social safety net…. The second Gilded Age is imitating the first. None of this history features in the columns of Brooks, Douthat or others like them, however, who all warble on about an imaginary past.
#Helaine-Olen - equitablegrowth.org