Equality

David Brooks in today's NY Times talks about the fact that Asians in New Jersey live an average of 26 years longer and are 11 times more likely to have a college degree than an American Indian in North Dakota:

When you try to account for life outcome differences this gigantic, you find yourself beyond narrow economic incentives and in the murky world of social capital. What matters are historical experiences, cultural attitudes, child-rearing practices, family formation patterns, expectations about the future, work ethics and the quality of social bonds.

Equality of opportunity will never result in equality of outcome until the culture of every ethnic group changes. Or the government adjusts every outcome, as some folks would dearly love to do.