Only a progressive such as Paul Krugman¹ could write a column about poverty without mentioning (1) desert, (2) personal responsibility, (3) dependency, (4) self-respect, or (5) charity. I repeat something I have said many times in this blog: You have to work hard to be poor in this land of opportunity.

__________

¹“Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults” (Daniel Okrent, “13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did,” The New York Times, 22 May 2005).