No nation on earth has ever tried as hard, and failed as utterly, in its efforts not to become rich as America has. From the start our great leaders have tried to steer us away from the pitfalls of great wealth. Almost all of our great thinkers and writers have joined the cause. Great wealth leads to decadence and complacency, and hence to corruption and decay. And yet when it comes to leading the simple life, we are utter failures. The average household in America now pulls in about $42,000 a year. The average household headed by someone with a college degree makes $71,400 a year. A professional degree pushes average household income to more than $100,000. If you are, say, a member of one of those college-grad households with a family income of around $75,000, you probably make more than 95 percent of the people on this planet. You are richer than 99.9 percent of the human beings who have ever lived. You are stinking rich. David Brooks, senior editor at The Weekly Standard, in the Sunday New York Times magazine. |
