COMMENTARY | The Associated Press reported today that President Barack Obama made a speech in Osawatomie, Kan., about the disparity of wealth in America. Obama drew loud cheers as he made his vision for America known, "Because at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement." I agree with the president here. That is my vision and the vision of I dare say all Americans. Where we disagree is his idea of what is hindering this vision from becoming reality.
Made evident in his speech is his opinion that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. According to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the distribution of wealth in America generally improved from 1947 through 1968, but that trend reversed from 1968 to 1998. Therefore, yes, the president is correct that income disparity is increasing. My thoughts to want to cut to the root of why this abrupt about-face has occurred since 1968.
What happened in the early to mid-1960s to cause such a dramatic shift in wealth? That would be President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and his War on Poverty. These plans, as detailed in this article from PBS, brought us the modern versions of welfare, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps.
While President Johnson and the Democrat controlled Congress should be applauded for their attempt at taking care of the less fortunate, ultimately the numbers show the Great Society programs only harmed the people it was designed to help.
By taking money from the rich and redistributing it to the poor, the government ended up subsidizing poverty and made it harder for people to rise up from their poor beginnings. When the government pays for your housing, food, clothing, education and health care as long as you are poor, then it threatens to cut you off when you attempt to get on your own feet by getting a good paying job, it only incentivizes poverty.
If you look at the report from the U.S. Census Bureau again, this is proven in the charts showing how the income disparity has evolved during this time period. The report shows how income distribution changed in times of economic recession and expansion.
Every time a recession hit, the income gap narrowed as the rich lost money but the poor maintained theirs through the government subsidy. Then when the time for expansion returned, the gap expanded as well as the people not on public assistance programs went back to work while those in the system stayed in the system. Therefore, when Obama shakes his fist at the disparity in incomes, he must look at the shadows of his own party for the root cause.
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