Is it time to change the subject? Some, such as President Barack Obama think, or maybe ‘hope’, so.
When things aren’t going your way, it may be a good time to change the subject. That’s what the president tried to do this last week in hopes of grabbing onto something, anything, to distract the American people from the disaster known as ObamaCare. But his chosen shiny object to change to, the economy, may not be the thing to change to.
In remarks Wednesday, Obama declared that income inequality is the “defining challenge of our time.” and he promised to focus on it “for the rest of my presidency.” With the warning of “a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility that has jeopardized middle-class America’s basic bargain – that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead.” What the president does not realize is that by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, or a modern-day ‘Robin Hood’, takes all incentive from anyone wanting to practice ‘upward mobility’ regardless of which class they are presently in. ‘Up-warding’ many not seem such a lofty goal if as soon as you get there, you know Robin Hood is coming along to take it right back anyway!
What he didn’t mention is the inconvenient truth that inequality has increased more during his presidency than that of any predecessor. Never mind that though, his mouthpiece, Jay Carney, laid blame for rising inequality at the feet of George W Bush. Let me see, how many years has it been now? It seems he is returning to his default setting, Obama’s solution is for the government to take away more of your freedom, redistribute more of your income, and mandate a higher minimum wage, all of which inevitably hits the middle class and hinders job growth. Indeed, it’s telling that median middle class household income has actually fallen during the Obama “recovery.”
To mention job growth, 203,000 jobs were created in November, dropping the headline unemployment rate from 7.3% to 7% but it is not mentioned that a good measure of that is workers returning from furlough after the government shutdown. As for the economy, there is some good news out there, if tempered. GDP grew by 3.6% in the third quarter, far above estimates of 2.8% and far outpacing the average of 1.2% over the last three quarters. The trouble here is that much of the growth came from expanding inventories, not consumer demand and that means fourth-quarter growth could stagnate. Some economists estimate that it will fall to just 1%.
Obama’s pivot to income inequality may fall on deaf ears. According to Gallup, people who actually think the “gaps between the rich and poor” is anywhere approaching the “defining challenge of our time” is just 1% meaning that 99% are just a little bit more worried about subjects such as the anemic economy, ObamaCare and a few other issues.
Far too many Americans today only have this change left:
