BILL O'REILLY (HOST): So let's deal with the economy first, do you think it's rigged?



CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: No, because I think the word rigged implies some kind of conscious will on the part of those who control the economy to put down the poor. I do think, however, that a large percentage of what determines if you're poor or not, is a matter of the lottery, the human lottery. Who your parents are, where you're born to, at a simple level if you are born in the United States, that is six out of a hundred humans, you won the lottery. You have a better chance than if you were born in the Congo. If you were born to people, to a single mother out of wedlock, without a man in the family, with poor educational system around you, you are -- that's the lottery, and you have lost it. It's very hard. So to some extent, it's true that your life chances are not entirely in your hand. I think they are largely out of your hands. Nonetheless, there are things that you can do, politically, by changing society, Changing the culture is extremely hard, -- nobody has a good answer for that.



O'REILLY: But here's my -- I do, I have a good answer for it.



KRAUTHAMMER: Oh, you do? Let's hear it.



O'REILLY: OK, here's the answer. I think you're right about the lottery of life and determining economic success in most cases, but not all. I'm an example, I mean, I was born to responsible parents. We didn't have any money, and you know, there was a pathway that I was shown. That is the key. So, my theory is that public schooling has to lay out a pathway to little children. I mean, 5, 6, 7 years old. And say look, here is where you are in life, alright? This is what you have to overcome, and this is how you do it. And that has to be drummed, inculcated, boom, boom, boom, that's got to be a course, along with math and spelling. and English. That's got to be a course, you see what I'm talking about? That --



KRAUTHAMMER: No, I don't. And I'll tell you why.



O'REILLY: If you did it, you'd be called a racist, but I think it's got to be a course.



KRAUTHAMMER: It's not a course, it's not something you teach. It's something that you get by the lottery of life. I didn't say that the lottery means you have to be -- you have to have rich folks if you want to do well in life. What I said is you have to have the human capital. Two parents, married, who inculcate the values you're talking about --



O'REILLY: But you can overcome that, the society can help the kids who don't, to overcome it --



KRAUTHAMMER: With of course?



O'REILLY: Yes.



KRAUTHAMMER: Come on, are you kidding me?



O'REILLY: I did it, I did it when I was teaching high school. I taught high school, in a -- you know, they weren't poor, but they were working class. And I basically would come in, I would say okay, here is two houses, alright? Here is the nice house, and here is the shack, where do you want to live? OK? And of course, they would say haha, and I said well here is what you need to do to get it. And you have to do a, and b, and c, and D, and this is what you have to do, alright? And this is not taught in school, it's not taught anywhere. It's -- they come in, and the society is already making them victims. Oh, you can't succeed. Oh, look at your circumstance, oh, you have to be treated differently. What is it, The soft expectation of bigotry? That is what is in play. We can't change that.



KRAUTHAMMER: Why aren't you still teaching it?



O'REILLY: Because I have a greater mission to teach people like you about how society can come back, and help these people who don't -- you know, who fall into the poverty precincts. You can help them, but you have to be honest with them.

Previously:



O’Reilly Tells Trump Blacks Are "Ill-Educated And Have Tattoos On Their Forehead”



O'Reilly Blames “Decline Of Discipline” In Poor Schools For “White Flight”



Bill O'Reilly Names “True Causes Of Poverty”: “Poor Education, Addiction, Irresponsible Behavior, And Laziness”

Watch A Black Community Activist Correct Bill O'Reilly On What African-Americans Need In Their Community