- Jeb Bush: "The opportunity gap is the defining issue of our time."
- Paul Ryan: "The Obamanomics that we're practicing now have exacerbated inequality."
- Rand Paul: "Income inequality has worsened under this administration."
- Ted Cruz: "We're facing right now a divided American when it comes to the economy...Today, the top 1% earn a higher share of our national income than any year since 1928."
- Mitt Romney: "Under President Obama the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse."
what eye thynk: Apparently deciding to sweep GOP policy culpability under the rug, Republicans love, love, love income inequality as a campaign issue. They also love the Right to Work (for Less) movement, hate labor unions, and refuse to raise the minimum wage--three strictly Republican positions that have, in fact, "exacerbated inequality"--so I'm not sure how far their We-Care slogan will fly.
I can't help but smile at President Obama's response to Mitt (47-percent) Romney's take on the problem: "We've got a former presidential candidate on the other side who suddenly is just deeply concerned about poverty. That's great."
Acknowledging the existence of a problem is not the same as effecting a solution. No matter how brightly they try to paint it, recognizing the existence of income inequality is not the same as reversing its effect on the American worker.
If they really care about income inequality and rebuilding the middle class, they would be looking at our labor history (not that history is high on their favorites list either.)
Let's be realistic, there are exceptions, but does anyone really believe the average business owner will raise his employees' pay voluntarily? One person asking for better pay is an exercise in futility. One hundred people asking for better pay is a movement toward equity.
America's middle class was virtually created by the modern labor union movement. Ayn Rand had nothing to do with it.
My Uncle George Roberts worked at Goodrich circa 1933. He was a proponent for creating a union. To say that the work force were underpaid and over worked is an understatement! Labor foremen regularly beat the tire builders.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe by today's standards, but it was how "business" was done back then. This behavior was not only sanctioned by management, but encouraged. I know. I heard Uncle George talking to my parents about it.
One day, just like in the old gangster movies, a big old Buick slowly drove by Grandma's house, a door opened, and 'they' pushed Uncle George's beaten body to the curb, then sped off.
Uncle George survived this beating and went of to help create the United Rubber Workers Union.
I can promise you, management was not behind any plan for reducing income inequality.