I found Jeffrey Sachs’s Oct. 3 op-ed “Income inequality is expensive’’ to be informative, but I took issue with some of the fundamentals of his underlying premise.

He argues that as demand went from lower-skilled farm jobs to higher-skilled white-collar jobs, it was the poor who were left out, because they could not afford the education to obtain those new skills. I believe this is a gross oversimplification of the issue.

Many poor kids did go to school — myself among them — to prepare for the emerging workplace. Many commuted, took out student loans, and worked nights and weekends to make ends meet, but we did it. And our ability to succeed in the increasingly technical workplace did not require a degree from MIT, as Sachs suggests. It did require hard work and dedication to a goal.

Sachs points out that the politics of “pay to play’’ also disadvantages the working class. On this I have no doubt, and that is why I believe the Citizens United court decision is so pernicious to our democracy. However, votes do count and can be a powerful weapon in protecting citizens’ rights and interests. The embarrassing truth is that those in the lower economic tiers tend not to vote. In many low-income precincts, the turnout is less than 12 percent. Clearly, this demographic needs to be more politically engaged.

Income inequality is a reality in our capitalistic system, and steps should be taken to address it. However, nothing the government will do can be as effective as helping the poor understand that they can make a difference in their own prosperity.

Frank Callahan

Norwell