Hillbilly Elegy, by J. D. Vance: on Welfare & Poverty

JD Vance: Welfare queens are poor whites as often as black moms

One of our neighbors was a lifetime welfare recipient, but in between asking my grandmother to borrow her car or offering to trade food stamps for cash at a premium, she'd blather on about the importance of industriousness. "So many people abuse the system, it's impossible for the hardworking people to get the help they need," she'd say. This was the construct she'd built in her head: Most of the beneficiaries of the system were extravagant moochers, but she--despite never having worked in her life--was an obvious exception.

JD Vance: Homeownership policies moved bad neighborhoods to suburbs

This has occurred for complicated reasons. Federal housing policy has actively encouraged homeownership, from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush. But in the Middletowns of the world, homeownership comes at a steep social cost: As jobs disappear in a given area, declining home values trap people in certain neighborhoods. Even if you'd like to move, you can't, because the bottom has fallen out of the market--you now owe more than any buyer is willing to pay. The costs of moving are so high that many people stay put. Of course, the people trapped are usually those with the least money; those who can afford to leave do so.

JD Vance: We spend our way to the poorhouse

"We spend our way to the poorhouse," he writes. "We buy giant TVs and iPads thanks to high-interest credit cards. We purchase homes we don't need, refinance them for more spending money, and declare bankruptcy. Thrift is inimical to our being." And he isn't interested in government solutions. All hillbillies need to do is work hard, maybe do a stint in the military, and they can end up at Yale Law School like he did.