To the Editor:

Re “The Genteel Nation,” by David Brooks (column, Sept. 10):

I doubt that a cultural shift is the reason that Ivy League grads flock to finance and consulting in large numbers. Rather, these jobs pay well, very well. Like it or not, our economy drives talented young people to Wall Street.

The solution to this problem lies not in some hazy cultural reawakening, but rather in the shrewd restructuring of government regulations and the tax code to deincentivize high-stakes gambling and reincentivize technical careers, small business, research and development, and (yes, Mr. Brooks) community service.

People are flexible. If you change their incentives, their attitudes will change accordingly.

Morgan Huse

New York, Sept. 10, 2010

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To the Editor:

David Brooks rightly credits the burst of entrepreneurial and technical innovation that began in Europe and America around 1800 with creating vast amounts of wealth. But for the majority of people living at the time the hallmarks of the age were polluted cities, denuded forests, putrefied rivers, child labor and dirty, dangerous 80-hour workweeks in mines, mills and factories, toiling for high-handed robber barons.