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MURRAY

Charles Murray wrote 
a book called _Losing
Ground_, that pushes  
the thesis that the   
liberal social programs
beginning with Johnson's
"Great Society" are 
literally useless.  
   
   The heart of the book      
   is some trendline analysis 
   that shows a steady        
   reduction of #s of people  
   below the poverty line --  
   until government social    
   spending kicks in, and then 
   all progress stops.        
                              
Murray's explanation of this    
might be called the standard    
conservative line: government    
welfare programs are seductive,    
once you're on them there's little    
incentive to try to improve your    
earnings, because once you do you    
lose the income from the welfare,    
from your point of view you have    
to put in a lot of work just to    
stay in one place before things    
can get better.                   
                 
There are a number of obvious 
responses to his trendline analysis, 
most of which he claims to have 
covered... whether he really does 
have it all covered is a complicated
question. 

As far as I can tell, he sometimes plays
with the way his numbers are presented
to make his case look a little stronger. 
I haven't found anything completely 
outragous, though.
           
                                  I've looked at some of the         
                                  criticism of the book... Lester    
                                  Thurow screams like a stuck pig,   
                                  but says very little thats coherent
                                  about it... 
                                          
                                  Probably his most interesting      
                                  point is that Murray doesn't        
                                  mention the GI bill, which is         
                                  a case of government               
                                  intervention which most people     
                                  agree was beneficial.              
                                                                     
                                  
                 But then, the GI bill was               
                 also a one shot deal, that
                 no recipient planned on in
                 the first place.          

                                                     

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