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What You Need to Know About the Left's Big Issue for 2014
Heritage Foundation ^ | 1/1/2014 | Amy Payne

Posted on 01/05/2014 4:23:09 AM PST by IbJensen

Do a Google News search for “income inequality” and it will remove any doubt that this is already the political issue of 2014.

The left has been gearing up for months. The liberal Center for American Progress launched a new center devoted to the subject, and President Obama has been making it a centerpiece of his speeches.

Get ready to hear about “fairness”—because some people make more money than others, and this isn’t fair. How can you sit by and watch this happen? What is the government going to do about it?

It’s a popular argument because everyone—even Warren Buffett—wants to make more money. When someone tells you that what you’re being paid isn’t fair, it’s easy to agree. And if that someone tells you that you can march in a protest and instantly make more money—well, that’s a lot quicker and easier than working toward your next promotion.

Quick and easy—that’s the allure of the left’s argument. But there are two things you should know about it.

1. It’s too good to be true.

The income inequality outrage is based on the idea that the people at the bottom of the economic ladder are stuck there indefinitely. But America isn’t “Downton Abbey”—you’re not stuck in the place where you were born. The chauffeur’s son can become…whatever he wants to be in America.

This uniquely American advantage is called mobility. People can move up—and down—the income ladder. In fact, “the recent rise in income disparities has not caused a decline in upward mobility,” reported Heritage’s Rea Hederman and David Azerrad in an in-depth study of the issue. They debunked the foundation of the left’s assumptions:

Standards of living have increased for everyone—as have incomes—and mobility, however one measures it, remains robust. Simply put, how much the top 1 percent of the population earns has no bearing on whether the bottom 20 percent can move up.

A focus on minimum-wage workers can also be a red herring. Heritage’s James Sherk and John Ligon note that “Over two-thirds of workers starting out at the minimum wage earn more than that a year later.”

2. It hurts people.

The left’s income inequality argument has a sad and destructive irony: If it’s made into public policy, it makes it more difficult for people to get a job and achieve their American Dream.

President Obama and his allies in Congress are already pushing for a minimum wage increase in the new year. Heritage’s Sherk and Ligon are very clear when it comes to the possible consequences of doing this: It “would force employers to curtail hiring.”

Less hiring. Fewer job opportunities. That does not help the men and women looking for work, who need to put food on the table and shoes on their kids’ feet.

The New York Times notes, however, that the issue of the minimum wage could help liberal politicians looking for voter turnout in the upcoming midterm election. And that’s all it is: a political ploy that manipulates Americans in the name of power.

At Heritage, we’d rather fling open the gates of opportunity and let Americans run toward the jobs they want—and the future they want—with nothing holding them back. That’s what we’ll be working for in 2014. Happy New Year!


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: evilobamaregime; evilrepublicrats; evilsenate; leftagenda; obamanation; obamunism
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If only America had an administration and a Congress composed of true Conservatives rather than the one party system under which we now suffer.

The first thing that needs to be done immediately is to cut off the supply of discretionary expenditures made by the phony now in the White Hut. If this moron wants multitudinous vacations coupled with lobster and caviar dinners then he should pay for it out of ill-gotten gains. Heinz baked beans and 'wieners' should be the fare for the worst family.

Impeachment and removal from office action should have begun long ago. Just what in the hell are these Republicrats waiting for?

The inane Marxist occupant of Our White House should have an immediate 50% pay cut. Further, he should be denied a lifetime pension as well as free medical care. The rest of the "hired help" who have been fleecing America for 4 years or more a 50% cut after the majority is summarily fired should be a priority as well.

Every other government drone should suffer a 25% cut and elimination of any pensions or fringe benefits.

If these federal employees and socialist appointees were forced to live within the city limits of Washington, D.C. we might see a mass exodus from offices of the central socialist government.

1 posted on 01/05/2014 4:23:09 AM PST by IbJensen
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To: IbJensen

Aren’t the Lefties earning more with all their college degrees anyway. Oh not those guys. They’re talking about the illegal immigrants and welfare veterans. Yeah those guys will need unions to represent them to insure income equality as the price of everything goes up even more under the clueless leader’s watch..../s


2 posted on 01/05/2014 4:31:17 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: IbJensen
Do you think semiannual national elections alone can stop our headlong dive into social justice tyranny?
3 posted on 01/05/2014 4:34:16 AM PST by Jacquerie (Watch Mark Levin today! Sunday at noon on C-Span In-Depth.)
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To: IbJensen

“That does not help the men and women looking for work, who need to put food on the table and shoes on their kids’ feet.”

It promotes the Marxist’s agenda: http://laissez-fairerepublic.com/tenplanks.html


4 posted on 01/05/2014 4:39:27 AM PST by fivecatsandadog
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To: Jacquerie

The answer is an unqualified NO.

Our national elections are a sick joke. Our Constitution is in tatters having been used by the current cretin in the White Hut and Congress as toilet paper.

Due to this scenario of evil, illegal legislation and executive orders I believe that Washington is in a worse state than history finds Madrid in 1936. The era of the pussy cats should be considered over; however, where in the name of all that’ s holy is our benevolent despot?


5 posted on 01/05/2014 4:41:06 AM PST by IbJensen (Liberals are like Slinkies, good for nothing, but you smile as you push them down the stairs.)
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To: fivecatsandadog

It takes a village resonates in my head. The GOP is useless useless, so many opportunities and they sat on thier hands and tried to make friends. The rats understand one thing like all bullies and tyrants A BIG F’N STICK!


6 posted on 01/05/2014 4:44:15 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: IbJensen

Article V. is the only possible answer. Washington is hopeless.

http://www.conventionofstates.com/


7 posted on 01/05/2014 4:48:06 AM PST by SC_Pete
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To: IbJensen
The USA, as a nation, has the "richest" poor on the planet. So what does the left want to do about it? They want to make the rich poorer.

The beauty of economic freedom is that it creates wealth. It allows people with goals, skills, and enthusiasm to turn those ideas into wealth, through hard work. It's this wealth that has allowed the US poor to become the richest poor on the planet. The only thing the left offers, is to take that away.

8 posted on 01/05/2014 4:52:50 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: IbJensen

Campaigning to fix income inequality is Marketing Socialism 101.


9 posted on 01/05/2014 5:03:05 AM PST by savedbygrace (But God!)
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To: IbJensen

It is simple..They do nothing because they love the opulent life style of Washington D.C., but that is not the greatest lust. It is POWER over the people they love. We are the Roman Empire as it is rotting from the inside of our government and our media. The last holdout to complete the beloved hedonism in our culture, pushed by government and media, is Christianity and they are gearing up for the persecution of Christians just as the Jews were persecuted in Germany in the 1930s and beyond. If you doubt this, go here and read..http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/01/will_king_obama_throw_nuns_into_the_lions_den.html Will they succeed in their goal of eliminating Christians from the American culture? We will see.


10 posted on 01/05/2014 5:13:54 AM PST by jazzlite (esat)
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To: IbJensen

“Standards of living have increased for everyone—as have incomes—and mobility, however one measures it, remains robust.”

I can’t believe someone can say that with a straight face; our standard of living has fallen drastically, and unreported inflation has wages falling.

“Simply put, how much the top 1 percent of the population earns has no bearing on whether the bottom 20 percent can move up.”

Who is moving jobs out/bringing labor in (legally or otherwise)? Business has decided that it no longer needs to pay people 5 or 6 figures to do a job; they have an army of people who will do it for 4 figures on a part-time or temp basis (with no benefits). Years ago (leading up to the 2008 election) some talking heads were discussing the economy, and one bright man stated that the status symbol in the new economy would be having a job. Considering the dearth of decent jobs, with benefits and such, he was absolutely right.


11 posted on 01/05/2014 5:18:22 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: IbJensen
"Do a Google News search for “income inequality”"

I did. And this is what I got...

.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
______________________________________________

Aug 2008...

George Hussein Onyango Obama,
Senator Barack Obama's long lost
brother was tracked down living in
a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/2590614/Barack-Obamas-lost-brother-found-in-Kenya.html

12 posted on 01/05/2014 5:24:49 AM PST by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: kearnyirish2
I am convinced that our rulers want a two class system ala South America. The middle class is useless to the lower and upper classes as the latter two have working symbiotic relationship.

The middle class is an entity unto itself with very little political power.

13 posted on 01/05/2014 5:33:10 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: IbJensen

We don’t want to talk about communism. It’s Obamacare,
Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare. . . . .


14 posted on 01/05/2014 5:43:17 AM PST by FlipWilson
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To: ETL
Here's a photo of a U. S. Treasury financed spring break trip to Mexico for Malia Obama and school chums.

As you can see her friends just loved it.

15 posted on 01/05/2014 6:02:48 AM PST by IbJensen (Liberals are like Slinkies, good for nothing, but you smile as you push them down the stairs.)
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To: IbJensen

Now that is a strange picture.


16 posted on 01/05/2014 6:08:01 AM PST by jetson (THE)
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To: Excellence

srbfl


17 posted on 01/05/2014 6:13:50 AM PST by Excellence (All your database are belong to us.)
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To: jetson

The woman with the see-thru shorts, or the two lesbians on the left?


18 posted on 01/05/2014 6:20:19 AM PST by Flavious_Maximus
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To: jsanders2001
Ok let's have this debate.

From where I sit the two biggest drivers of "income inequality" are poor education and single parents. We've known this for years.

Concerning poor education; the strongest impediment to real reform in education is the teachers union. Ironically, the worse schools perform the more money they demand. There is no accountability from the educrat superstructure. Where there is no accountability there can be no real reform.

Secondly, single teenange mothers, a product of the Great Society, is a poverty trap w/o equal. It virtually guarantees a lifetime of living on the doleful handouts of government. And the children born into this depressing situation, especially the boys, face steep odds.

Both of these factors are the direct result of liberal policies.

So yeah, let's have this debate.

19 posted on 01/05/2014 6:21:55 AM PST by Pietro
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To: SC_Pete; IbJensen
It is no secret, no revelation to anyone who half pays attention to their surroundings, that our economy, society, major institutions are in trouble. Probably 99% of Americans are unaware of the peaceful means we have to right structural wrongs.

I suspect there will be far more support for an Article V Amendment Convention when the news on further state actions begin to break this year.

Doing an end run around the DC uniparty is no guarantee, it is strictly our last chance.

Article V.

20 posted on 01/05/2014 6:43:38 AM PST by Jacquerie (Watch Mark Levin today! Sunday at noon on C-Span In-Depth.)
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