Myth 5: The economy is meritocratic, so people earn what they deserve based on talent and effort.
In a meritocracy, if you're poor, it's either your fault or just bad luck. If you were smarter or worked harder, chances are you'd be rich. There's nothing fairer than a meritocracy, if you don't mind some advantages going to people who were simply born with a greater ability to make money. A true meritocracy provides equal opportunities for everyone, and, if you have equal opportunity, why should you also have redistribution? Why take from the wealthy to support the strugglers, when the strugglers are only struggling because of their own deficiencies or laziness?
The only reason would be to counteract occasional bad luck by providing some kind of temporary social insurance. That's about as far as Republicans are willing to go. Unfortunately, their underlying assumption is wrong. The American economy is not a true meritocracy. Plenty of opportunities still go to people because of their connections and their families' existing wealth, rather than because of their ideas or their work ethic. Plenty of our most talented, hard-working people don't have time to start a business or develop new inventions, because they have to work two or three jobs just to put dinner on the table. Thousands of Americans still suffer discrimination every day because of their age, gender, race, or religion, whether they're trying to get a job or a loan to buy a car or a house. And the people who want to change the system are shut out of the political process because they can't afford a big campaign. At the same time, the way around these obstacles -- the education system -- is becoming harder to access because of self-segregated school districts, rising college tuition, and class stratification. As a result, the children of the rich tend to stay rich, and the children of the poor stay poor, no matter their abilities.
The United States may be one of the more meritocratic countries in the world, but it is not a true meritocracy. When an American doesn't have a job, or can't pay for food, that doesn't mean he or she is lazy or inept. Yet Republicans showed little sympathy for Americans down on their luck in the aftermath of the recession. Every time the Democrats tried to extend unemployment benefits in the deepest downturn since the Great Depression, the Republicans balked. And as millions of Americans slipped into poverty and even hunger, with state budgets being slashed and social services disappearing at the moment of greatest need, the Republicans turned the other way.
With their economic philosophy based on so many mere myths, perhaps it isn't surprising that the Republicans have a dismal economic record. In the past six decades, economic growth was highest -- 3.9 percent annually, adjusted for changes in prices -- when Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and presidency. When the Republicans controlled all three, growth averaged only 3.0 percent. That may not sound like a huge difference, but consider this: a drop of one percentage point in the economy's rate of growth implies a shortfall in job creation of about one million jobs per year. Of course, economic policy sometimes needs time to take effect. But even if you give the Republicans a long runway -- say, five years from the period when they control the government -- the effect of their policies on economic growth is actually negative. Extending the runway to 10 years only makes their record look worse.
On the strength of this evidence, perhaps the Republicans who faced the aftermath of the Great Recession might have reconsidered some of their most dearly held economic ideas. But no -- they fought harder than ever, and the American people have suffered for it.
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