Republicans Try to Beat Democrats at Their Own Game on the Problem of Economic Inequality

National Journal ^ | 01/09/2014 | By Jack Fitzpatrick

[Puppage]

the Problem of Economic Inequality

There IS no problem. It's a divisive, manufactured issue to make the low information voter think they're being hosed.

Your neighbor works harder, makes sacrifices & makes more than you? Then get off your ass and work harder. Make your OWN sacrifices.

I am so sick of this whiny cry baby garbage of the gimmee, gimme sect.

[Twotone]

Democrats, Rubio said, “help people deal with poverty, but they do not help them escape it.”

Excellent line. Every Republican should be repeating it.

[cripplecreek]

I personally think Rand Paul has the right idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hZqoxmyow8

Get off the people and let them help themselves.

[cuban leaf]

As Rush Limbaugh said in the 1990’s, liberals want to give the poor just enough to keep them miserable.

[Caribou]

All the rich liberal democrats like most hollywood stars and politicians should show by example and give all of THEIR money to the poor then we can talk about income inequility.

[Socon-Econ]

We can point-out how government policies keep potential achievers at the bottom; but we cannot out-promise the socialists, who feed on envy and desire for a free lunch. Sometimes, we have to wait until people hit bottom before they will change. It happens with lazy kids. And it happened in the 1970’s before Ronald Reagan was elected. It won’t happen if we continually run away from the socialists and their politics of envy.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Democrats, Rubio said, "help people deal with poverty, but they do not help them escape it."

If they wanted to escape it they would have found ways to do so by now.

[WashingtonSource]

I’m surprised the National Journal published this article.

[Doogle]

The folks who are getting the free stuff don’t like

The folks who are paying for the free stuff, because

The folks who are paying for the free stuff can no longer

Afford to pay for both the free stuffand their own stuff.

And the folks who are paying for thefree stuff

Want the free stuff to stop.

And the folks who are getting the free stuff want even more

Free stuff on top of the free stuffthey are already getting!

Now... The people who are forcing the people who pay

For the free stuff have told the people who are RECEIVING

The free stuff that the people who are PAYING for the

Free stuff are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So... The people who are GETTING thefree stuff have been

Convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the

Free stuff by the people who are forcing some people to pay

For their free stuff and giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there

Are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the

Free stuff.

[sickoflibs]

When Dems bring up unemployment comp the GOP needs to reply that Obama’s economic policies are a disaster and : ‘Even the president is admitting that millions of unemployed Americans are on the brink of starvation and foreclosure under his watch and five years of his policies’

And throw inequality right back in their faces.

[tanknetter]

Respectfully, you’re dead wrong.

There is an inequality issue. However it’s something that’s been created by the failed 50 year long social welfare experiment (and by the 80 year long New Deal) called the Great Society/War on Poverty that’s frozen a permanent, government dependent underclass in place.

Rubio is absolutely right on the: Dem programs help people “deal” with poverty and being on the wrong end of the equality equation. But they also keep, indeed trap, them there instead of providing ways to escape upward.

[jdege]

Your neighbor works harder, makes sacrifices & makes more than you? Then get off your ass and work harder. Make your OWN sacrifices.

It's not all that easy.

We live in a world in which the regulatory burdens on entry-level entrepreneurship can be severe.

Suppose, for example, you've no education, no training, no connections, but you have a car that runs. You know there are elderly shut-ins who'd be thrilled to have some help with their groceries. So you start a service, driving them to the store, helping them shop, and helping them get their groceries back home. You build a clientele, build a viable business, and wham...

The city slaps you with a fine because you don't have a taxi license.

[SeminoleCounty]

End ObamaCare...stop the delay BS

You either end ObamaCare or you support it

[Puppage]

It's not all that easy.

Didn't say it was. My point is,some people work their ass off to make things happen. Others, do the least they can, then cry when others make more than them.

I worked 2 jobs for 6 years and put myself through college. Am I now supposed to feel bad because Mr. X chose not to go to school and makes less than me?

[jdege]

Am I now supposed to feel bad because Mr. X chose not to go to school and makes less than me?

No. But you're supposed to get pissed off at the government, when it imposes measures that couldn't do more to discourage initiative and self-reliance than if they'd been designed to.

[Puppage]

Fair enough and agree completely.

[Vanbasten]

I agree. There is no problem.

But I will say, I don’t mind them tackling the issue, because democrats will continue to pound this point, relevant or not. I am worried about how they intend to tackle it though...

[BfloGuy]

The Republicans should ignore this issue and keep stressing opportunity for all. Once again, they allow the Dems to set the so-called narrative.

[supercat]

We live in a world in which the regulatory burdens on entry-level entrepreneurship can be severe.

Indeed, but redistributionist programs do nothing to alleviate such problems, and instead help protect those who benefit from the imposition of such burdens from prospective political challengers who would seek to eliminate them.