Men Without Work

[Mirimir]

>From John Mauldin's blog.[0]

| I have been promising a review of Nicholas Eberstadt’s
| very important book, Men Without Work: America’s Invisible
| Crisis. The book is relatively short at 216 pages, but it
| is packed with meaty facts and insights. ... The “invisible
| crisis” that the author is writing about is at the very
| center of our economic and political turmoil.
|
| At its heart, the book is about the fact that there are some
| 10 million American men of prime working age (25 to 54) who
| have simply dropped out of the workforce, and the great
| majority of them have not only dropped out of the workforce,
| they have also dropped out from any commitments or
| responsibilities to society. It is not just the labor force
| they are not participating in; they are not participating
| in the normal ebb and flow of community life.
| ...
|
| As we shall see, a single variable – having a criminal record
| – is a key missing piece in explaining why work rates and
| LFPRs have collapsed much more dramatically in America than
| other affluent Western societies over the past two generations.
| This single variable also helps explain why the collapse has
| been so much greater for American men than women and why it
| has been so much more dramatic for African American men and
| men with low educational attainment than for other prime-age
| men in the United States.

That is, with admittedly some license taken, it is arguably the bloody
War Against Drugs that has been destroying the US economy and culture.

Oops :(

0) http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/men-without-work