Why Democrats talk about gaps instead of consumption

This is why the Democrats have to talk about a gap rather than quality of life and consumption.

1. The typical poor household, AS DEFINED BY THE GOVERNMENT, has a car and air conditioning, two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there are children, especially boys, the family has a game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

2.  In the kitchen, the household has a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences include a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker.

3.  The home of the typical poor family is in good repair and is not overcrowded. In fact, the typical average poor American has more living space in his home than the average (non-poor) European has.

4.  By its own report, the typical poor family was not hungry, was able to obtain medical care when needed, and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty

Obama's Millionaire Obsession

President Obama's always been wealthier than we are, even in childhood, and unlike us probably didn't begin in the bottom quintile as a young man, having attended pricy private schools and colleges and then marrying a woman of some means and social connections from Chicago. However, he loves to play the wealth envy card, doesn't he?

With less than 19 months left before the next presidential election, Barack Obama has kicked off his campaign, doing coast-to-coast "town hall" meetings last week. At the top of President Obama's re-election strategy is what appears to be a personal jihad against America's "millionaires and billionaires," many of whom, he seems to think, are—there's no other word for it—un-American. So naturally the place he picked to pitch an assault on the wealthy was the Silicon Valley headquarters of Facebook, a place filled with millionaires and billionaires.

Since he never could acquire wealth on his own efforts, or was never allowed to given his parents' and grandparents' socialist beliefs, he now has to try to strip and demean others who have achieved.

Henninger: Obama's Millionaire Obsession - WSJ.com

Conservative Christians have always given more generously than liberal Christians who prefer to take hand outs from local, state and federal governments, then pass it on to the poor in various "good works." However, even the wealthy give more than their "fair share."

It is an eternal question whether the deductibility of such spending means the charitable activity by these people is bogus and driven only by self-regard. One man's answer: Eliminate the charitable deduction, drop—or flatten—the top tax rate and total giving will rise, not fall. Giving is what Americans do, at all income levels.

He's a poor step-dad and significant other

Eighty six% of the households in the top 5% are married couple families. Only 19% in the lowest 5th are married couple families. Do you suppose this affects the income gap? You betcha! Households with two full-time workers earn five times as much as households in which nobody works. Median income for households with two full-time earners was $85,517 in 2003 compared with $15,661 for households in which nobody worked. Median income for households with one worker who worked full-time all year was $60,852, compared with $28,704 for those who worked part-time for 26 weeks or less.

Oh, the injustice of it. Two married people who work have higher incomes than people who receive government money provided by the people who work. Not only that, but the median income of working people increased by 13% from 1987 to 2003, but those who don’t work and depend on Uncle Sam only got a 1.4% increase. Indeed, marriage may actually penalize poor people while helping their children (they get fewer benefits, but studies show children do much better with married parents). Both Democrats and Republicans tossed the ball of control back and forth during that time period. And since social programs (far exceeds defense) grew faster than anything else in government during those years, especially under Republicans, do you suppose we could conclude that Uncle Sam is not only a lousy step-dad, he’s not even all that great as a lover and significant other? Source

Will it be one more tax on marriage?

Obama wants to punish the most productive, the biggest contributors to the government in terms of taxes, even more. The top quintile. These are the ones whose wealth is transferred to the bottom fifth.



86% of the households in the top 5% are married couple families. Only 19% in the lowest 5th are married couple families. Also, the people in the top fifth have attained more education, with people holding professional degrees doing considerably better than PhDs. Is this "gap" so difficult to understand? Two people make more money than one. Check! One person working full time earns more than one person receiving transfer payments in the form of food stamps, subsidized housing and Medicaid. Check! What's so hard about that math?

Now, Obama is an educated man with a professional degree and he's married. He's made a ton of money writing about himself and being in government. Shouldn't he be able to figure out that he's killing the golden goose with his punitive tax plan? Since he doesn't mind telling people what to do, maybe he should just tell women to stay in school and get married before having a baby, instead of promising them that he'll take care of them as long as they're in the lowest quintile.

If you were poor or low income

sitting on the edge of the bottom quintile, hoping to move up a notch, which would you prefer:

1. a job in an Ohio coal mine in Appalachia at $25/hour, or a job at an interstate McDonald's at $8/hour serving the people from Columbus and Cleveland who come down to see the fall colors in Appalachia


2. the opportunity to shop at a Walmart on the outskirts of your community once a week, or driving 60 miles after filling the tank for the round trip to a Walmart 2 counties away to shop once a month


3. living in your humble 2 bedroom home which grandpa bought in a not so great neighborhood near your friends and church, or being pushed into a balloon mortgage out in the suburbs by developers who bought the land with the help of city council rezoning to "revitalize" the down town


4. being denied access to military recruiters who might make promises and come through on 50% of them, or hang out on the street corners with your friends and do a few drugs


5. a job that has potential but no guarantees, or the security of a steady income stream from WIC, low income housing support, food stamps and SCHIP


6. a used automobile that's not very fuel efficient or bus transportation that might get you within 2 miles of shopping and the doctor's office


7. a used automobile that's not very fuel efficient or a fancy 10 speed bike and snappy lycra shorts with matching helmet

Don't answer based on your income or education in 2008, answer truthfully what you would do if your income was $20,000 a year. Think local, not global, as the tree huggers would say. You can't create another scenario. This is my fantasy, not yours.