INCOME INEQUALITY AS AN ISSUE? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!

As a diversionary tactic, the failure-plagued administration now in power in Washington appears to be cranking up the faux-issue of income inequality.  However,  let us not forget what happens when government attempts to make individuals equal.  We don't have to go back too far to recall the abortive effort to put people into mortgages that they obviously could not afford.  Consequently, the bursting housing bubble was one gigantic factor in the onset of the Great Recession.  And, more recently, government schemes to facilitate access to health insurance give every appearance of continuing to drive up the costs of health care while compounding unemployment.  If O' Care is allowed to stand, its disastrous effects will continue to be felt for generations.

As for income equality, there are no finer models than North Korea and Cuba.  But, of course, while nearly everybody in those countries shares the misery of deprivation, the political elites live lives of luxury and indulgence.

In one way, it was welcome news that  socialist Bill "Lefty"de Blasio won the recent mayoral election in New York City.  If the new mayor puts his leftist ideology into play, it is practically guaranteed that, within 3 years, New York will be rotting away at its core, serving as an example of how not to govern a city.  Incredibly, New York could be on the way to joining Detroit, where the push for equality totally overwhelmed opportunity, consequently producing an urban basket- case of the first magnitude.

Doctrinaire "progressives"  just seem never to learn.  A case in point is Texas, where the state economy, based on a low-tax, moderate regulation concept,  has led the national economy for the last decade.  Would Andrew Cuomo or Jerry Brown ever be so bold as to  look to Rick Perry and his state government for pointers?  You can bet your bottom dollar that they would never stoop so low, preferring to wallow in the leftist marinades that have cost their states their once elevated positions of financial, commercial and manufacturing dominance.  For most reasonable human beings, it would stand to reason that, if out of the top six cities in which to do business in America  five of the cities are in Texas, then something of value might be learned from the Lone Star State.  But, to reiterate, those calling themselves progressives are usually downright lacking when it comes to giving up ideology for practicality.

As for Americans and income, the average annual household income in the U.S. has been dropping for the last 10 years.  In that regard, we hit our peak in 2007, when the figure reached $55,400; but, since that time the number has dropped to slightly more than $50,000.  Given the economy of the last 6 years, it is quite understandable how that decline took place.

If we look at the U.S. from a global perspective, the U.S. would be almost in the middle of any spectrum of income inequality.  Those nations where income inequality is greatest are leftist paradises in the Southern Hemisphere, Muslim despotisms, Third World dictatorships and emerging economies.  In terms of countries where incomes would be judged to be most equitable, such are more likely to be found in homogeneous, socialist countries in northern Europe. However, on both extremes of such an income continuum, opportunity for economic advancement would be lagging badly.

It should be kept in mind, too, that income inequality in the U.S. is a cultural thing.  Asian-Americans, for example, lead Americans of all ethnic stripes, with an average household income of more than $65,000, while the African-American average comes in at $32,000.

It should be pointed out that, during the last 45 years, only the top 5% of income earners in America have shown real growth in average incomes.  However keep in mind too, that the top 10% of earners pay 71% of all income taxes.  Looked at more broadly, 32% of our population - and that segment is laboring in the private sector - supports 68%  of the total population, which would include salaries for government workers and benefits for those who cannot work because of handicaps, the unemployed and the increasing numbers of individuals who do not wish to work. Stated succinctly, too few in our society are already paying the way for too many.

 An average household income of around $50,000 would work out to a rate of around $137 for every day of the year.  But, from the standpoint of welfare, a recent U.S. Senate budget report informs us that the total of welfare benefits received during the last fiscal year - composed of cash benefits, food stamps, housing assistance, children's benefits and medical care, along with the cost of administration - works out to an average daily expenditure of 168.00 for 352 days a year, or a per-hour average of nearly $30.

In terms of expenditures to hold up the bottom sector of society, the U.S. should not be expected to do more.  In fact, there is much fat to be cut.  Where we are failing is in producing equality of opportunity.  Clearly, the present system fails badly in that regard.  In many ways, the work ethic that built our country is being abandoned in favor of socialist strategies that inevitably lead to penury and ruin, and the issue of income inequality is no different in that regard.  To pile on the cost of further bolstering the incomes of non-productive elements would surely further the damage that has already been done to a country that, from its inception, has been seen as the land offering the most opportunity in the history of the world.  Let us not talk of income inequality, but, instead, let us consider how equality of opportunity may be advanced.

Deo Vindice!

May God bless Texas, and may the Lone Star State remain forever red!