Obama’s Legacy

Barack Obama

I think that Harsanyi is on to something here:

One of the most seductive parts of President Barack Obama’s political message (and the message of progressive Democrats in general) is sympathy for the poor and a willingness to talk about the disparities of capitalism — about the rich being too rich and the poor being screwed. In some ways, it’s the predominant message of the Obama era.

Now, if you’re heavily invested in the market, life is peachy. A confounding fact, no doubt, when one considers that nearly every economic indicator known to mankind has been pretty abysmal of late. We are experiencing high unemployment, a shrinking labor force, stagnant gross domestic product growth and rickety consumer confidence. A disconnected market, though, has been on a historic boom. So if we need any more proof that life really isn’t fair, think about this: The rich have the Federal Reserve, and you have Harry Reid.

What does it mean in substance? According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data, thanks to a robust stock and bond market, coupled with a lousy housing market, the recovery has meant that households with a net worth in the upper 7 percent have seen their net worth rise, on average, by nearly 30 percent in the years after the recession and that everyone else’s net worth has dropped by an average of 4 percent.

The economic gap between whites and minorities is even worse. According to the Urban Institute, whites, on average, have two times the income of blacks and Hispanics and six times the wealth, and that gap is accelerating.

This is going on, if you can imagine, even after a tax hike on the wealthy.

The brutal and bitter reality of liberal policy is that the very people they claim they are helping are getting hammered.  And just as those very folks who are getting screwed by the democrats go to vote, they are going to hear that it’s all because of the republicans.

In all of history, nothing has improved the lot of the ordinary man in the way that a freer and more open market has.  Increased government regulation leads only to the poor remaining poor.

2 responses to “Obama’s Legacy

  1. I actually agree with your penultimate sentence. Free markets are fabulous. But like anything, they can go too far (I assume you favor government regulation against pollution). I don’t think your last sentence follows from the previous. For just one example, the US experienced huge growth– across all society– in the post-WWII years– a time notable for activist government and high tax rates. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_great_divergence/features/2010/the_united_states_of_inequality/introducing_the_great_divergence.html

    • I actually agree with your penultimate sentence. Free markets are fabulous.

      That is excellent news.

      But like anything, they can go too far (I assume you favor government regulation against pollution). I don’t think your last sentence follows from the previous. For just one example, the US experienced huge growth– across all society– in the post-WWII years– a time notable for activist government and high tax rates.

      I think that the central role of government is to protect individual liberty. As such, laws against theft, while technically a “regulation” are not what I mean when I rail against government. I’m more against things like minimum wage or mandatory maternity leave.

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