David Brooks- The Rich will get Richer and the Poor will get Poorer

David's new cause celebre is called - hmm I'm not really sure what to call it. You see, he has a new book and writes columns and bloviates on many talk shows and, in the last month or so, the "I'm not sure what to call it," has been his central and repetitive theme. I guess maybe it's self promotion of the new book. No matter the topic, regardless of the question posed to him, it has become David's sole explanation for what ails us, and if understood, could save us from our cultural and competitive decline. It is David's 3 minute recipe for people who don't want to confront what is really at the core of our so-called decline. According to David, succeeding in today's world is not about the name of the schools you attended or the connections you made there. Nor is it about your inherited wealth or internalized class attitudes. Rather, in today's world, it's about your ability to read people - it's your ability to translate non-verbal communications- and leverage the genius of group think. As he describes it, it is one's hard to define or understand ability to navigate non-verbally through one's sensitivity to non-verbal cues through the group's process of back and forth, questioning, pooh poohing, frustration, anger and so on that is the mark of success. And it is these skills that must be taught in school. I just think David's 3 minute recipe glosses over the way the game is rigged by money and by the corruption of our political system. It glosses over the disadvantages of growing up poor, of getting a poor education, and is basically demeaning and elitist. This is the David Brooks who supported the "self made" man George Bush. Until we confront the institutionalized and deeply imbedded imbalances in our system- the poor will continue to get poorer and the rich will continue to get richer.