1172 The gap between rich and poor--the series

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal had another in its series about the growing gap between the rich and poor. It really fell flat for me. It is beyond anecdotal, moving quickly to fairy tale. Could the author (whose name I forgot to write down) not find better examples than a 58 year old man who had a GED and a single woman who has three children and had her first baby (unwed) at 18? What really frustrated me is that Ron Larson, 58, the guy with the GED, was making the same as I was in 2000 when I retired, and I had a master's degree, 24 years experience on the job, and had rank of associate professor. The solution, if I caught the drift, is more education. Why?

After you read through the meaty paragraphs with filler of concern and pity, you get to the little morsels, particularly mistakes made in youth that come back to bite later--like an arrest that unhinges a security clearance years later; failure to finish high school; and an out of wedlock baby or two. I can think of no government program or change in evil corporations that will turn that around.

The examples of success included a "lucky" 20 year old, son of Puerto Rican immigrants, who really hustled, took extra training in-house and moved from the kitchen to the operating room as a surgery assistant. The other success story was a young man whose parents had worked hard and helped him with good values and financial support for his education. He was having no problem exceeding his parents' standard of living.

Go figure.