Choices and chances.

In his brief essay "Free to Choose" (Oct. 9), Kevin A. Hassett correctly points out that most people's income reflects their own choices in life. But I would temper this observation: While many people do make bad decisions, there are also many who lack the opportunity or the skills to succeed. There is a fundamental difference in many political discussions: The Right tends to believe that most of what happens to you is your own doing, while the Left believes that almost nothing is your own fault. Life tends to be more complicated: It is wrong to generalize that the rich don't deserve what they have, but let's also avoid the assumption that everyone freely chooses his level of success.

John Kratunis

Bridgewater, N.J.

KEVIN A. HASSETT REPLIES: The letter raises an important point, but mischaracterizes my piece. I made no assumption that everyone freely chooses his level of success in my piece, and do not believe such to be true. Indeed, my article mentioned specifically that the very poor are an exception to the rule that decisions determine economic outcomes.

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