The Myth That Made Us: How False Beliefs About Racism and Meritocracy Broke Our Economy (and How to Fix It)

The belief that “success goes to those who work hard” and “failure goes to those who do not” obfuscates the difficulty of rising up the economic ladder in the U.S., according to this incisive study. Economist Fuhrer (editor of Understanding Inflation and the Implications for Monetary Policy) carefully deconstructs this myth and discusses discriminatory policies designed to disadvantage people of color, such as the exclusion of domestic and agricultural workers, who were disproportionately likely to be people of color, from New Deal minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. Profiles of people struggling to get by add nuance to statistics on the lack of upward mobility in the U.S., as when Fuhrer notes a study that found families in the lowest-earning quintile had only a 3% chance of making it to the highest over a 10 year span and tells the story of a mother of three who lives in a northern suburb of Boston and struggles to pay bills while undergoing cancer treatment. To create a more equitable economy, the author recommends “focusing on early childhood education, more effective use of our community college system, restructuring the workplace, providing much more affordable housing,... and instituting baby bonds and reparations.” The troubling interviews and statistics underscore the difficulty of “making it” in America, and the proposed solutions are pragmatic and well considered. Readers will be outraged by this scathing indictment of America’s failure to live up to its meritocratic ideals. (Sept.)