Every time I see stories about “income inequality” I think
my head’s going to explode.
Especially when Obama and Democrats like Schumer, Reid and
Pelosi start spouting off about it being the most pressing issue of our
times.
And also when the media attempts to pull at our heartstrings
with tales of fast-food workers earning minimum wage who can’t support a family
of four on what they’re paid. Well, duh
…
It’s laughable to see millionaires like Obama, Schumer, Reid
and Pelosi claim to represent the interests of the downtrodden out of
“compassion.” They couldn’t care less
about the poor except when they need their votes. It’s the same with immigration reform; they
only care because they hope converted illegals become dedicated Democrats.
Why anyone gives any credence to these shameless hypocrites
is beyond me.
But the media does and is more than happy to promote the
Democrats’ view of America today as a “Dickensian” nightmare.
[If you hadn’t noticed, “Dickensian” is now the word du jour
among class warriors. The recently
elected far-left mayor of NYC won on a theme of New York as a “tale of two
cities” that he planned to fix with sweeping progressive reforms. The poor and uneducated may not have
understood the literary analogy, but apparently liked the idea of soaking the
rich for more free stuff.]
To hear the class warriors, you’d think honest, hardworking
people are starving in the streets because evil, greedy rich people either
don’t want to give them decent jobs, or want to work them to death for a
pittance. The rich also conspire to pay
no taxes so they can buy private jets and yachts they don’t need, and ship
American jobs overseas to make bigger profits for themselves.
Okay.
I’m not saying there aren’t greedy, amoral pigs in the
private sector. The Obama Administration
knows them very well; many of them – like Goldman-Sachs and other big Wall
Street firms – were among Obama’s biggest campaign contributors. Not surprisingly, many also benefitted from
Obama’s bail outs and loan guarantees, and are today paying out million-dollar
bonuses to their executives.
Where’s the Democrats’ outrage over this?
Cue the crickets …
As to the plight of the people they make such a big deal
about – you know, the working poor barely scraping by – how do you think many
of them got that way?
Not a nice or politically correct answer, but the truth is a
great many of them made some stupid, half-assed decisions somewhere along the
line that virtually guaranteed their lot in life.
Granted, there’s no law against being stupid. But there are consequences, especially if you
aspire to a decent job with upward potential in the private sector.
Drop out of high school and you’ve automatically disqualified
yourself from the majority of those jobs.
Getting convicted of a crime forever minimizes any chance of a good job.
Not making the effort to read, write or
speak proper English dramatically limits career prospects.
Even excessive tattoos and piercings – like see-through ear
plugs – can also hold you back.
Hey, people have free will.
They make choices. And with those
choices come consequences. The typical
consequence is getting stuck in a low-paying, low-skill, dead-end job – if they
are lucky enough to get a job at all.
Some escape those circumstances through a combination of
hard work and a degree of luck. A very
few get temporary government-funded jobs to help other people just like them.
But most don’t, and they’re the working-age adults still manning
the counter at Wendy’s, delivering pizzas, blowing leaves off your lawn, and
cleaning rooms at a local motel.
Or simply hanging out waiting for their next government
check to arrive.
Frankly, I’m really tired of hearing about how hard they are
struggling to make ends meet.
The reason why many – not all, of course – of these adults
have crappy, low-wage, dead-end jobs, or are so dependent on government
assistance to survive, is largely
because of dumb decisions they made along the way.
There, I said what many of us probably feel.
Nobody wants to man up and tell the truth to these people –
and especially children in low-income families:
When you screw up big time, and make dumb decisions in your youth, you
will likely suffer the consequences long into the future. Unless you hit the lottery, win American
Idol, play professional sports, or some rich relative leaves you a fortune –
all very long shots – those bad decisions will continue to bite you on the ass
for years to come.
In other words, there are long-term consequences to being
short-term stupid.
If you want to bring up income inequality – and why some
people make more than others – you’re going to have to confront the real
reasons.
Not everybody is equal.
Not everybody is as smart. Not
everybody is as talented. Not everybody
is willing to do the work required to get ahead. Not everybody has taken full advantage of
their educational opportunities – whether that’s to get prepared for higher
education or a trade. Not everybody has
the same work ethic.
It has very little to do with gender, race, ethnicity,
religion, or how much money your family had in the majority of instances. It has more to do with talent, ability and
ambition. Many people in high and
well-paid positions in business today started from humble beginning; they got
where they are despite where they were from.
That’s the beauty of the American system.
Now, for all of Obama’s public concern about the growing
spread between the rich and poor, the rich have actually gotten a lot richer since
Obama came into office. That’s
undeniable. It’s not because the rich squeezed
the life out of the poor, but because Obama policies carried out by the Fed –
like keeping interest rates near zero – have largely benefitted the rich while
hurting ordinary folks’ yields on CDs
and savings accounts.
The Fed’s near-zero-interest policies have allowed those
with money to borrow and gamble with essentially free money, fueling the
booming stock market. And when the stock
market booms, the rich get richer. Investment
banks and brokerages pay huge bonuses.
Executive comp tied to stock gains balloons. The
gap between the top and bottom earners grows even more.
So yes, there’s income inequality in America. And yes, the income gap between the rich and
poor is growing. But it’s ridiculous to
concoct bogus reasons for this simply to feed a class warfare narrative solely
for political gain.
Attempts to achieve income equality have always failed for
one simple reason: people – and their
talents, abilities, knowledge and ambition – aren’t equal. So some are worth more than others and will
always be paid more than others.
And no law, regulation, or Executive Order can change that
fact of life.
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