President Obama believes the greatest threat facing our country today is income inequality. In Osawatomie, Kan., earlier this month, Obama said, “In the last few decades, the average income of the top 1 percent has gone up by more than 250 percent to $1.2 million per year. … And yet, over the last decade the incomes of most Americans have actually fallen by about 6 percent. Now, this kind of inequality — a level that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression — hurts us all.” First of all, Obama’s statement was quite misleading. Note the sleight of hand of comparing “the last decade” for one group with “the last few decades” for another. That’s what clear-eyed people call “comparing apples to oranges.” A recent Congressional Budget Office study found that for the top 1 percent, after-tax income has increased 275 percent since 1979. For the middle 60 percent of American households — that is, “most Americans,” excluding the top and bottom quintiles — income has risen by almost 40 percent. People in those groups have become richer, and that’s a cause for celebration.
Not for class warrior Obama. He says the income inequality growth over the last few decades “distorts our democracy” and “gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America.” But as it turns out, in addition to the facts described by CBO, the American people also have a contrary view. According to a Gallup poll conducted just days before Obama’s speech, only 46 percent of Americans believe it is important that the federal government do something to reduce the income gap between the rich and poor. The same poll found that 82 percent of Americans thought economic growth should be the government’s top priority. Fifty-eight percent reject the entire concept of an America divided between “haves” and “have-nots.”
A closer examination of the numbers shows that income inequality is little more than a perennial obsession among liberal Democrats like Obama. Just 43 percent of independents, and only 21 percent of Republicans, say the gap between the rich and poor is an important issue, whereas 72 percent of Democrats say that it is. Maybe Obama’s Osawatomie speech maybe wasn’t written to appeal to most Americans but rather to fire up the Democratic base for his 2012 re-election campaign.
That same Gallup poll had even more signs showing that Obama has again misread the American electorate. Asked which entity they thought posed “the biggest threat to the country,” 64 percent chose Big Government, while only 26 percent chose Big Business. Other polls released this week support the same idea, that Americans are far more inclined to reduce government spending than to maintain Obama’s aggressive, wealth-spreading interventions. Pew found that 76 percent of Americans identify the national debt as major threat to U.S. economic well-being, more than any other issue. An Associated Press poll found that 60 percent of Americans believe cuts to government services should take priority over tax increases when balancing the federal budget. Obama should think twice before doubling down on his bet that class warfare will win him four more years in the White House. These facts make it clear he’s out of touch with America.
