By Jake García-Falchook
“Today, we live in the richest country in the history of the world, but that reality means little because much of that wealth is controlled by a tiny handful of individuals. The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time. America now has more wealth and income inequality than any major developed country on earth, and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is wider than at any time since the 1920s.” — Senator Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders is right, there is more wealth inequality than ever before. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Politicians like Sanders are continuing to fear monger about the shrinking middle class and how this is all happening because rich people are hoarding their money and buying yachts. The reality is that the middle class is shrinking. But why? Because everyone is getting richer. When income inequality was at its low point, everyone was worse off.
Income inequality is being weaponized by Democrats across the field. But think about it, as the wealthy got 200% richer and the poor got 32% richer, inequality may be higher but poor people are still better off even though inequality increased. Then they say that social mobility is gone in America, which is a myth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics showed that most people born in the bottom 20% will move to a higher quintile.
Bernie Sanders also thinks “billionaires should not exist.” Think about all the good billionaires did for the world. Jeff Bezos created Amazon, a business that has lowered the cost for all consumers, improved the lives of the majority of citizens with more convenient + faster shipping, employs thousands, and allows small businesses to sell on their platform to share in the prosperity. Also think about Steve Jobs. His iPhone’s, iPad’s, and Macbook’s, improved the lives for all of us. We now have quick, easy, and accessible ways to search for information, to communicate, and for me to type this article. Rich people have iPhones and poor people have iPhones. Billionaires also invest in businesses, keep their money in banks which gets loaned out, and pay the majority of taxes in this country. When you take out a house loan, car loan, or business loan, the money just doesn’t come from nowhere. Also, a lot of billionaires are self-made billionaires and worked incredibly hard to get there bringing up a lot of people on their journey.
What we have seen throughout history is that any attempt to end income inequality has ended with failure, leaving everyone worse off. For example, I was speaking with someone who immigrated from the Soviet Union and she told me, “When politicians tell you they want to make everyone equal, it is just BS. Everyone is equally poor.” Cuba and Venezuela tried to fight this inequality, leaving their citizens poorer today than before. Sure inequality may be lower, but what does that matter when everyone is worse off? Twelve European countries used to have wealth taxes and today only three remain because of its failure to raise revenue. France was forced to drop their 75% supertax after it brought in barely any returns. Taxes were cut under President Trump and now we see tax revenue increasing, wages rising, unemployment decreasing, and the economy also increasing.
Inequality is natural. Some people are better at some things than others. The reason why Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs had so much more wealth than us is because they improved the lives of billions of people and created much wealth and productivity for the entire world. The reason why singers like Lady Gaga and Paul McCarthy have more money than us is because they have more talent than the average person. The reason why sports players have more money is because they are better at sports than us.
As income inequality got worse, the middle class shrunk because most joined the upper middle class as the graph in this article shows. America as a whole got richer and almost all Americans joined in on the prosperity in one way or another. Next time you hear a politician or the media telling you, “The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer” know that the facts show that is a big lie and that is fake news.
Democrats are using this Income Inequality as an issue to impose their government agenda onto us. They want to raise taxes, increase regulations, and dramatically raise the role of government in our lives which will stop the prosperity the country is experiencing.
Americans should reject Socialism and its failed policies and support Capitalism, because Capitalism is the best anti poverty program out there.
bootlicker