Last week, my dad shot me an e-mail that I had to check out Charles Murray's latest book. Then Amy P said to check it out. Then David Brooks said it was the best book of the year. When people mention Charles Murray, my brain sorts the conversation into the same folder where I put links to Powerline blog posts, and I promptly start thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner or what color I plan to paint the hallway. 

With all this hoopla, I am struggling to make myself focus on him. 

Murray's new thesis is that we are mistakenly thinking about the 99% v. the 1%. Instead, we should be looking at the gap between the upper 20% and the lower 30%. These two tribes are increasingly isolated from each other. They differ not only in terms of their bank account balance, but in their behavior. Brie v. Pork Rinds. SATS and college tours v. guns and fireworks. Because he focuses on white America, Murray doesn't get tied up in the race problem, which plagued him in the past. 

I'm not sure what Murray writes is terribly new. It seems to continue the tradition of the Culture of Poverty research.

He's also stuck with a chicken and egg problem. Does watching lots of TV and avoiding community affairs cause the lower 20% to be poor? Or are people who are out of work and depressed by the bleak economic landscape looking for cheap thrills with the TV and pork rinds? 

UPDATE: Take the Quiz!! I scored a 13. Not the bubble, baby!