Intellectual Apartheid Part Two

In 2010 I wrote a blog post titled  "Intellectual Apartheid" in which I lamented the devaluation off the less mentally endowed workers of America.  I think it was a good post and is worth a read, especially in conjunction with this post.  The original post can be found in my blog Archive's.

So, at the coffee shop on Friday, (Yes, we still meet for coffee every day)  I mentioned that I had been reading about the bell curve for intelligence.  The spread of intelligence works out like this:  About 50% of the population has an IQ of between 90 and 110, 25 percent has an IQ of less than 90, and 25% has an IQ of above 110.  If you use a population figure of about three hundred million souls in America, that means that seventy five million of us have a below average IQ, and of this population, fifteen million have an IQ of less than 70.

I've tried to imagine what it would be like to have an IQ of less than 90.  I estimate that it would, for me, be about the equivalent of walking around all day with a four beer buzz.  I would still be functional, but would be prone to making bad decisions and my math skills would be diminished.  I figure it would be around a two beer buzz for the rest of my coffee klatch.

The big question is, what is to become of these people, what should we expect of them and what should they expect of us.  I grew up and lived most of my life in a time where anyone could get a job in a factory or in some other low skill profession, work forty hours a week, and earn a living wage.  Today, there are not enough low skill jobs to go around, and the existing low skill jobs are low pay and often part time.  Welfare has been converted to workfare, unemployment benefits are running out, and food stamps are under assault.

The drum beat from the right is constant and consistent.  Cut the bums off, they are gaming the system, they are the takers, not makers, they need to retrain and find high tech jobs, health care is not a right, we need less government, we can't afford to support these people. We can't euthanize these somewhat challenged people, although someone I know made a vague hint to the contrary.  They will always be with us, they are our brothers, sisters, cousins, they deserve better.

What to do?  The first and most logical step is to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.  A living wage for all may reduce the profits of corporations, businesses and stockholders, but it will put billions of dollars back into the economy to further fuel growth and provide more jobs.  Second, we have to figure out how to bring back jobs to America that have been outsourced to other countries.  We don't need to produce everything for ourselves, we don't have the manpower to do it, but we need to pick and choose some industries to focus on.  Practically every country in the world practices some form of government managed economy, and so should we.  The practical solution is to apply tariffs to specific products to give America a level playing field on these items.  Third, we should enforce and reinforce existing labor laws that would prevent illegal aliens from finding employment in this country.  If this happens, employers will be forced to use American workers, and as the unemployment rate falls, wages will increase.  This last item is disturbing to me and I'm sure, worrisome to some of you, but we cannot afford to address the rest of the world problems if we cannot address our own.

Granted, these measures are somewhat inflationary, but it would not be the end of the world if the cheap consumer products and services we take for granted cost a bit more.  I'm not advocating a handout, I'm calling for a hand up.