Veracity of this quote

[OripahsTrebor]

""Putting it all together, success and failure in the American economy, and all that goes with it, are increasingly a matter of the genes that people inherit.""

It's from The Bell Curve

[Nonsupernaturalist]

Would you like to share some thoughts about the sentence you quoted? Or offer clarification?

[OripahsTrebor]

Would you like to share some thoughts about the sentence you quoted? Or offer clarification?

I do not find economic inequality palatable, but the book argues that IQ determines your socio-economic status, and in turn, IQ is determined by genes.

[AthenaAwakened]

The Bell Curve Flattened (http://www.slate.com/?id=2416)

The Bell Curve and the Pioneer Fund (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/049.html)

[Gamera]

Would you like to share some thoughts about the sentence you quoted? Or offer clarification?

I do not find economic inequality palatable, but the book argues that IQ determines your socio-economic status, and in turn, IQ is determined by genes.

IQ is partially determined by genes.

But since economies are there to serve the citizens of our country, not the smart or rich or privileged, this statement by Murphy is something of an indictment of capitalism, not an indictment of the purported decline in IQ he worries overs.

Further agression, criminality and abition are also genetic, and they play a large role in the "success" of CEOs in our economy. The least moral, most greedy people tend to claw to the top.

Finally, luck plays a huge role in capitalist society. 40% of the superrich inherited their money, rather than earned it. Some people win the lottery. Some people have great ideas but can't get capital backing. And of course IQ itself is a matter of luck -- you don't choose your parent's mental endowments.

Thus, Murphy is actually indicting the whole notion of meritocracy. What he's saying --unintentionally -- is that the whole discourse of hard work and discipline is a pretense: people succeed in our society because of pure luck, whether having rich parents or smart parents or catchting a break some other way.

So much for the morality of capitalism.