New data exposes further flaws in 1619 Project
May 20, 2024
The 1619 Project is even worse than we all thought it was. We know, a difficult thing to believe. As we’ve pointed out before the 1619 Project was a deliberate attempt to mislead about America’s history.
Yes, of course, slavery was vile but it wasn’t the founding issue of the country. Nor was it a vital part of the economy – as shown by the way the economy grew after slavery as well as before it.
But when there’s an ideological project simple truths become the casualties. Our favorite specific example has been that the man they employed to work out the effect of slavery on GDP – the economy – didn’t actually know what GDP was. That’s unlikely to lead to a useful or even interesting result – unless you’re trying to mislead of course.
But we now have new data telling us why that 1619 Project was so terrible. This tweet from Hannah Jones, who ran the entire project:
Or: “Most wealth is not used to create jobs. Most wealth is stored away and used to create more wealth for the wealthy family.“ In economic terms that’s of the same level of stupidity as asking whether breathing is difficult underwater. Simply misunderstanding the most basic ideas, terms and realities of the subject.
Wealth is, by definition – OK, except for Scrooge McDuck, but he’s a cartoon character – exactly, wholly and only the stuff that is out there making jobs for people. The corporations, factories, buildings, machinery and all the rest that mean people have somewhere to go to work, something to do when they get there. And, more, if the wealth isn’t there doing something – if it is Scrooge and his vault of gold coins – then it doesn’t create more wealth: by definition. Wealth can only increase if it is employed and if it’s employed then it is creating jobs.
That a walking, talking adult can get this wrong is worrying. That a now journalism professor is so clueless is more than that even if it explains much about journalists. But that someone whose project is supposed to go into every school in America believes this is appalling.
The 1619 Project isn’t just wrong because the history is wrong, or because it’s an ideological outrage intended to mislead, it’s also because the people who created it are entirely clueless about the real world.