Trash or Treasure: What's The Matter With Kansas

Given the amount of information out there, it's essential that you filter. In Trash or Treasure, I will review books based on the first few pages. Today, I'm reviewing What's The Matter With Kansas--a book I picked up for free a couple of years ago but never bothered reading.

Let's start. The first page is full of howlers. For example:

• The poorest country in America isn't in Appalachia or the Deep South. It is on the Great Plains, a region of struggling rancher and dying farm towns [...] and George W. Bush carried it by a majority of greater than 80%.

Perhaps that was the case when Mr. Frank first wrote his book, but it isn't the case any longer. That dubious honor, according to USA Today, goes to McCreary County, Kentucky. 42.5% of the county lives in poverty and the median household income is $18,972. In contrast, the poorest country in Kansas is Crawford County with a median household income of $37,607. 21.8% of it's residents live in poverty.

More importantly, Mr. Frank contends that Kansas is doing itself a economic disservice by supporting Republicans. Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve's website sheds some light on this claim. Let's start by examining Real Median Household Income.

Year............Household Income.............Governor.............State House
1985................$48,492...............................D...........................R
1990................$53,303...............................R........................Split
1995................$47,484...........................D to R.......................R
2000................$57,426...............................R...........................R
2005................$51,951...............................D...........................R
2010................$50,698...............................D...........................R
2015................$55,558...............................R...........................R
2016................$56,810...............................R...........................R

Yes, the economy his been rocky, but real income has risen over the last twenty years. In 1984 real income was at $54,208. So it has admittedly been only modest growth. But I think the data speaks for itself. Real GDP figures, however, present a rosier picture.

Year.................Real GDP (in Million $)
1997............................98,817
2002..........................109,000
2007..........................126,143
2012..........................131,320
2016..........................136,591

In short, Kansas has hardly become some wasteland under the Republicans.

• For us it is the Democrats that are the party of workers, of the poor, of the weak and the victimized. Understanding this, we think, is basic; it is part of the ABCs of adulthood.

That last sentence drips with condescension. The writer is saying, if you don't get this, you're a child and should be treated accordingly. Show us you're not a child by engaging in identity politics. How grown up of him! 

• How can anyone who has ever worked for someone else vote Republican? 

This is quite revealing. In a chapter entitled Employment and Independence, Hayek says our society has changed. In the past, most people were self-employed. Today, the majority of people are wage-earners. The self-employed person thinks of money as a resource. The wage-earner thinks of money almost entirely in terms of consumption and status.

• People getting their fundamental interests wrong is what American political life is all about.

People may get their interests confused, but why should a man's economic interests trump all other? People have every right to decide what really matters to them. Mr. Frank's whole attitude reminds me of the low opinions the Fabian's had of the masses. This is a quote from Beatrice Webb's diary:

• At present we leave this vital problem of character of consumption to be solved by the appetites of each individual, even to the extent of permitting them to poison themselves and their children. It will not be so very long before a whole system of sumptuary laws--at any rate as regards non-adults, will come into force. That was a brilliant suggestion of H. G. Wells that we should divide the world into adults and non-adults. For some purposes we would raise "the age of consent" to say, fifty!

Verdict: Trash