Consumption Si, Inequality No

Professor James Q. Wilson, one of the nation's most insightful political scientists, writes about income inequality and whether we should worry about it as the President insists we should. Wilson concludes we should not:

The country has become more prosperous, as measured not by income but by consumption: In constant dollars, consumption by people in the lowest quintile rose by more than 40 percent over the past four decades.

Income as measured by the federal government is not a reliable indicator of well-being, but consumption is. Though poverty is a problem, it has become less of one.

Wilson's Washington Post article is very much worth your time. Wilson's thoughts relate to what we said Saturday about Reagan's views.