Jim.henderson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
I “enjoyed” the dubious honor of attending inner city public schools from Kindergarten through high school way back in the fifties and sixties, when attending such schools was relatively safe and the education level was being upheld. But even then there was a certain mentality held among a group of so-called students that showed disdain for adapting to societal norms, which included getting an education. This substratum was distinct from what today would be called “the working class”. All students attending these schools were from working class families; i.e., factory workers, mechanics, etc. The name of my high school was “Manual Training High School” and was part of the manual training movement in public education. But there were some who not only refused to abide by established norms but who actively tried to prevent others from getting an education. This was not a racial divide but one of attitude. This underclass possessed what I call a ghetto mentality that tried to drag everyone down to their level. This ghetto mentality was characterized by its inherent laziness and violence. The attitude was a general disdain for learning how to make one’s own way in the world but to skate by and live off the work of others.
Ghetto mentality validated by Johnson’s (Not So) Great Society
In the 1960’s this ghetto mentality received a back door justification by Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs whose underlying message was that the individual was no longer responsible for his life but that “society” had caused one’s disadvantage and “society” was, therefore, responsible for leveling the playing field, so to speak. Our now gargantuan welfare system was born. The ghetto mentality became respectable; so respectable that it has now gone international!
Think not? Then consider the incessant complaints that China is working to undermine our economy by working hard, increasing the productivity of workers, and underselling local suppliers overseas. Who can tolerate such economic warfare? This warrants tariffs to “protect” local industry from hardworking Chinese. Need oil? America will simply decapitate the leadership of an oil rich nation and take it. It seems to have worked in Venezuela, although Iran is proving to be not quite so easy to subdue. Apparently the old-school religion of hard work and fair dealing are so yesterday.
Fiat money is at the heart of the Ghetto mindset
At the heart of the Ghetto mindset is fiat money. Why produce now in order to consume later, the essence of Jean-Baptiste Say’s “Law of Markets”, when a country can just take what it wants by printing money out of thin air? John Maynard Keynes, the founder of the Ghetto mindset, calls this “increasing aggregate demand”. Keynes gave counterfeiting money a respectable name, but it’s pure Ghetto mindset all the same.
An example of the spread of the Ghetto mindset
In order to qualify for welfare, one must first prove to be “disadvantaged”. Out of wedlock births are one path to welfare. I’ll never forget what a young woman told me many years ago. A friend of mine ran a luncheon establishment. This young lady worked for him. I was partaking of one of my friend’s delicious cheese steaks when this young lady told me–out of the blue—that she was going to have a baby. I congratulated her and let slip that I didn’t know she was married. Here’s the incredible part. She said that she was not married, had no intention of getting married, and was not yet pregnant! She then told me that she was going to have a baby with her boyfriend, but they were not going to get married in order that she could qualify for a variety of welfare programs which included cash payments every month, which she said would give her more than she earned working for my friend, plus an apartment. She had it all figured out! This is just one example of pure ghetto mindset.
The Ghetto mindset infects foreign policy
Now let’s get back to how this mindset has infected even foreign policy. To do so let us return to China’s spectacular economic rise over the last several decades. China’s economic and foreign policy is diametrically the opposite of that of the US. China has not papered the world with ever depreciating yuan. It has not invaded countries to take their resources. It has earned its place the old fashioned way—by working hard, working smart, and providing value to others. China is helping industrialize developing economies without interfering with indigenous leadership or basing military assets abroad. It is working to protect its trading partners from US sanctions by quietly building an alternative international trading infrastructure that will be based on gold. To such end China has been accumulating gold for decades both at the governmental level and among its citizens. Furthermore, it has opened gold vaults outside China with the obvious purpose of settling international trade accounts either in gold or a gold backed yuan. In other words, China has laid the foundation for honest trade and honest development. The contrast with the Ghetto mindset of the US and its blustering threats of tariffs and outright military action could not be greater.
Which mindset will prevail?
Now ask yourself which of these mindsets represents a future to which you wish to belong–the Ghetto mindset of entitlement at the expense of others with the real threat of violence or the mindset of non-intervention and value? The choice could not be more obvious.
© Patrick Barron 2026 Website
