Wealth inequality isn’t a ‘crisis’ — and voters know it

New York Post ^ | 10/18/2015 | Kyle Smith

[SteveinSATX]

Inequality is the defining challenge of our time, President Obama says. “There’s too much inequality,” Hillary Clinton said in the debate Tuesday night. And the United States, Bernie Sanders noted at the same event, has more wealth and income inequality than any other country.

Inequality certainly is a symptom of a persistent underlying condition: It may be the leading cause of bulls–t in America today. To put it simply, there is no inequality crisis.

Sanders, the Grandpa Simpson of economics, has been repeating the nonsense about the US leading the way in inequality for months even though FactCheck.org reported his claims were bogus back in May. (snip)

The American tendency to respect, and expect, success runs counter to the progressive plan to tax it away. Not only does constant chatter about inequality tend to make Americans more supportive of free enterprise, but it also leads to a blanket suspicion about what the regulatory and taxation elves really mean to do. (snip)

In April, liberal New York Times writer Thomas Edsall noted somberly that there is “a steady decline in support for redistributive government policies.” A Washington Post piece last year delicately noted that Obama was laying off the inequality rhetoric because of “Democratic polling that found that talking about income inequality does not register strongly with the American public and risks accusations of class warfare.” Even Americans of below-average income react negatively to inequality rhetoric.

[beethovenfan]

...and here I thought that “climate change” was the defining challenge of our time.

[butlerweave]

Obama can’t everyone Rich so he’ll make everyone Poor

[Brad from Tennessee]

Democrats have to fabricate crises—War on Women, Global Warming, Police Brutality, The Uninsured, White Privilege, etc.—because the White House is clueless when confronting a real crisis. Fabricated crises also serve to advance government expansion, adding regulations, enriching cronies, and increasing Democrat voter rolls.

[rstrahan]

The problem is that the 1% control the ‘establishment’ of both parties, creating the Uniparty that now exists.

[youngidiot]

You have $1000 and I have $100. The “gap” is $900. Next year you double your money to $2000, and your pleased. I increase my money ten fold to $1000 and I’m ecstatic. But, oh no, the “gap” has now grown to $1000. Finally, the third year, you lose your money down to $100. You’re very upset. I also lose my money down to $80. I’m also very upset. But guess what? The “gap” is now only $20! SUCCESS!!!

The “wealth gap” is a bs arbitrary number.

[Terry L Smith]

“Ah’s done do dah woik, ah’s do git paid, ah’s got dah bills paid, an’ ah’s got whats left, and it ain’t fer d’at ol’ white guy d’at wants to git it all!”

[ctdonath2]

Minimum possible income is $0/yr. That’s a hard limit.
Maximum income is practically unlimited.
Given an administration printing money (aka “quantitative easing”) and giving most of it to cronies (bankers), of course income equality is high - and irrelevant.

[Alberta's Child]

I read recently about an interesting psychological phenomenon in the U.S. that you don't find anywhere else in the world, and it really comes into play when these discussions about "inequality" come up.

The phenomenon I'm describing is this tendency in the U.S. for people to never think of themselves as "poor." Even most poor people don't really think they're poor. Instead, they go through life in this constant state of existence where they really believe that they just haven't struck it rich yet. This is why so many Americans -- rich, poor, and everywhere in between -- tend to make financial decisions that are obviously destructive by any objective measure. It could be as simple as buying lottery tickets, or as complicated as getting over-extended in debt by buying new cars, homes, college educations, etc.

Even in this age of self-proclaimed victims and professional malcontents, it seems like every American has a plan to become a multi-millionaire.

[jsanders2001]

> Inequality is the defining challenge of our time, President Obama says. “There’s too much inequality,” Hillary Clinton said in the debate Tuesday night.

and the irony is that both are banking hundreds of millions of dollars and have gun toting SS agents with them everywhere they go yet they want to disarm U.S. cutizens. Hypocrites.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Liberal politicians need a new uniform.

[kaehurowing]

The problem isn’t “the rich.” The problem is that Obama and the Democrats raped and destroyed the middle class.

[Arthur McGowan]

If I were Pope, appointing bishops, I would eliminate any nominee who had ever used the phrases “income inequality” or “gap between the rich and the poor.”

There is absolutely nothing in Scripture or moral theology that warrants being concerned about the fact that some people are rich and others poor—or the fact that the “gap” between them may be getting larger.

[Arthur McGowan]

I think it was John Steinbeck, who was at least somewhat socialist, who said that Americans never think of themselves as poor, but at worst, as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

[JoeFromSidney]

I figure that a rich man is someone who can buy whatever he wants without having to worry about the cost. If you don't want a whole lot, it's easy to be rich.

[SaraJohnson]

It a problem but not one that the government can solve. The culture of big business today is to concentrate huge salaries and profit sharing into a few management hands and leave the workers holding the bag. There in no shame, honor nor loyalty among the globalist elite.