The New York Times has a column by Charles Blow (was it shortened from blowhard?) which discusses the growing belief that income inequality is part of our economic system. Blow calls this a delusion foisted on the public by those who just do not know the truth. In other words, if the American people realize that part of our economic system is to reward those who are successful much more than those who either do not try or those who fail, then they are delusional. Blow is particularly derrisive of the rise in the numbers of folks who accept this view of income inequality which has happened in the last few years.
Blow is wrong in his analysis. The public has not become delusional. Instead, reality has forced them to realized the truth. To a great extent, president Obama and his failed income redistribution schemes have done more to reveal the truth than anything else. Let me explain.
Throughout the years when the economy was good, America had an academic culture that promoted leftist thought. Campuses were filled with anti-capitalist professors who argued for the Marxist viewpoint. Income was to be fairly shared; equality was the prize to fight for. Millions of students were exposed to this point of view; many fewer were taught the merits of capitalism. In both college and high school, students were told much more of equality and much less of economic growth and success.
When the recession hit in 2008, Americans voted for change with Obama. He would bring back growth and jobs. Even if Obama did not really say how he would achieve this, many folks expected him to do so. Obama did say that he favored spreading the wealth around, but again, for many folks this was just what they had heard for decades ought to be the goal of our economy.
Now we have had three years of harsh reality under Obama; there has been nothing but sputtering and slight growth in the economy. Millions of jobs have been lost during the Obama presidency. And all the while, Obama has been focused on spreading the wealth around. Even today, Obama is still focused on taking from the wealthy rather than creating wealth for everyone. All of Obama's plans focus on tax increases for rich folks to pay their "fair share" rather than on plans to actually create economic growth that will bring new jobs.
Americans have surely noticed by now both Obama's failure to restore growth and prosperity and his actions which actually reduced job creation. Obama put all sorts of restrictions on oil and gas drilling and then railed against evil big oil. Obama wanted to destroy jobs by limiting the use of private planes because these planes are used by the evil rich. Obama wants to take money from small businesses which create most jobs in the American economy because the owners are "millionaires and billionaires" even if these taxes will substantially reduce job growth.
Americans have also noticed that Obama's plans have all come to naught. And with this observation has come the realization that it has been the free enterprise system that brought great wealth and opportunity to the USA. Millions of folks earned good livings at jobs created in the private sector. It was not government funded enterprises that created the growth and the wealth; it was private industry. So morea nd more Americans have come to realize that the leftist theories taught in schools were really not true. Income equality does not lead to growth, but to stagnation. Spreading the wealth around does not bring the poor up to the level of the rich; it just makes everyone poor. If there is to be hope for the future, there has to be a way to have economic growth, and income equality is not the way to that growth.
Of course, the true believers like Mr. Blow will never agree to the triumph of reality over their cherished theories. They will cling to the academic nonsense which has been proven false in country after country around the world that tried to follow the Marxist ideal. That is okay. The American people have now learned the truth. We need not income equality but equal opportunity for all if America is to grow. Any man or woman who works hard has to have a shot at rising up to be wealthy. Indeed, the more folks try and succeed on the path to wealth, the better it is for our entire society.
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