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Brown University Economics Prof Says Reparations Would Be Disastrous for the Country

Brown University Economics Prof Says Reparations Would Be Disastrous for the Country

“Let’s make the country a good country for everybody and we’ll be on the right track.”

Glenn Loury is a very wise man. He makes an excellent case for his position here.

FOX News reports:

Brown University economist says reparations will be ‘disastrous’ for future of United States

Economist and academic Glenn Loury on Sunday said the United States should “get beyond race” and reparations would be “disastrous” for the future of America.

Loury, an economics professor at Brown University, appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss critical race theory and Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday, when he was asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos about how Americans can “bridge the divide” on these issues dealing with race.

“I think we should get beyond race. I know I’m spitting in the wind when I say that. I know no one wants to hear it. I think the right story here is that it’s the American story. We’re all in this thing together. I know that’s very easy to say,” said Loury, the first Black tenured economics professor at Harvard University. “I think Martin Luther King got it right in 1963. I think that the racialization of this discussion of crime and violence, and policing, of poverty and wealth and whatnot is bad for America.”

“I think talking about reparations, whatever the moral argument might be, is disastrous for the future of this country,” Loury continued. “Black people should not be trying to cut a separate deal with America. Let’s make the country a good country for everybody and we’ll be on the right track.”

Earlier in the interview, Loury was asked about conservatives expressing concerns about critical race theory and whether he agreed with their definition. Loury responded by saying he believes their definition is “fine” and that their concerns revolve around the “narrative” being pushed.

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Comments

The basic problem is that law treats people as individuals. Although individuals can join together as municipalities, corporations and even certified classes in lawsuits, the legal system was not built to adjudicate claims between poorly defined categories. What “rights” does a “race” have when scientists agree that race is a social construct?

Next, there is no limiting principle to confine reparations to just black people. We have different waives of immigrants as well as native Americans. We have women who claim gender discrimination, and we have college athletes who claim the misuse of their names and images for commercial purposes. We have people who paid full price for a college education but were mislead into selecting a major with no commercial value.

Finally, reparations create claims that can never be fully paid. If we give $10,000 reparation checks to every person in the group, what prevents them from coming back and demanding even more money? What prevents other people from redefining themselves to fit into the group that is getting the reparation checks?

Once society starts down this path, you would assume that the courts will be able to sort out any disputes. But look at Indian Land Claims, where disputes have been litigated over many decades, and the Congress has stepped in to fund settlements. When the tribes lost, they start lobbying college students to demand the reparations that the tribes can’t get from the judicial process: https://www.thecornellreview.org/virtual-reunion-highlights-policy-questions-on-indigenous-land-claims/

henrybowman | June 21, 2021 at 4:51 pm

“Black people should not be trying to cut a separate deal with America.”

But that horse has flown. It sprouted big, black wings in the LBJ administration. Now it’s the only way too many of them know of to survive.

We’ve had reparations: Two examples are welfare and affirmative action.