Monday, December 09, 2013

Spreadin' the wealth around

Except for his amen corner in the mainstream media (E.J. Dionne), virtually everyone ignored Obama's latest pivot to the economy and his income inequality prattle.  There's rarely been a more transparent attempt to shore up the populist base and distract everyone from Obamacare.  Mickey Kaus, however, took a deeper look in "4 Things the MSM Won’t Tell You About Obama’s Inequality Speech":
a. Five years into his presidency he so far hasn’t done anything to stop growing income inequality–the problem has gotten worse on his watch.
b. He doesn’t have any proposals (“It’s time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act”) that come close to solving the problem as he defines it.
c. His one big previous initiative to reduce inequality–the Affordable Care Act–may now be hopelessly screwed up due to his own inattention and non-competence.
d. His remaining big domestic initiative–”comprehensive” immigration reform–would almost certainly make inequality worse by vastly increasing the number of unskilled workers bidding down wages at the bottom of the income scale, with the profits from the cheap labor going to business owners at the top
Of course, Obama also lied about the economic effects of the minimum wage.  And despite a fairly progressive tax code, the Wealth-Spreader can't get this economy moving.  So...a speech, and one that elides the fact that he's been in charge of the show for five years now.

Remember when Steve Urkel would invite disaster and then quip: "Did I do that?"  Hilarious.

Extra - Glenn Reynolds: "Obama can't solve the jobs problem."

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