Thursday, March 05, 2015

Black and Blue


I read two posts today that were very close together on Instapundit.  Put together they kind of make you wonder who the real racists are, who's really trying to keep American blacks from progressing:
SHOCKER: New Poll: Obama Aids Rich, Not Middle Class. “A new Pew Research Center survey shows most Americans believe President Barack Obama’s two terms in office have favored the rich, and have not benefited the middle class or the poor. Those negative attitudes are justified by much negative economic data, and could help GOP candidates in 2015 and 2016 who offer a populist criticism of ‘crony capitalism.’”
Ya think?

After 25 years of blue policies, the wealth gap between whites on the one hand and African Americans and Hispanics on the other has barely budged. . . .

The St. Louis Fed researchers said it’s not differences in age or education levels that explain the racial and ethnic wealth disparities; these persist even if you’re looking at older and better-educated blacks, Hispanics and whites.

Part of the story here is the disproportionate effect the foreclosure crisis had on African Americans. Black families were in some cases stuck with riskier loans than whites, and when the crisis hit a lot of their wealth was wiped out. Since then, many blue cities with large minority populations have been hit particularly hard by financial problems. When Detroit, a majority African-American city long ruled by blue politicians, needed to raise money recently it foreclosed on tens of thousands of homes. Then there is the overall decline in clerical and some government jobs, which have long been a staple of African-American middle-class employment—a decline likely to continue, given the sorry finances of state and local governments across the nation.

It’s like the whole thing is some sort of racial con game designed to enrich and empower politicians or something.
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/203176/
The Left's ideas just don't work--except for the elites.

5 comments:

Niels Henrik Abel said...

The Left's ideas just don't work--except for the elites.

It doesn't matter - the LIVs will still continue to dance with the one that brought (bought?) 'em, even if (figuratively speaking) he turns out to be a wife beater ~

maxutils said...

Nothing is going to help until the tax code is completely reformed. The right's ideas are just as bad as the left's … they just achieve bad results differently.

Darren said...

Yeah, max, that Adam Smith guy's ideas don't do anything for blacks. Sheesh.

maxutils said...

Actually, what I was referring to was the fact that if you take the entire tax structure as a whole, includingFICA, state and federal income, sales tax, gas tax, property tax, bridge and road tolls, the new 40% tax on medical insurance 'benefits' and whatever else I forgot … the tax code is weighted to take a greater % of a poorer middle class person's income than the rich. And then that income is supplemented by government aid, which the rest of the taxpayers pay. You may not agree that the rich should be taxed at a higher average rate than the poor, but I think we CAN probably agree that the poor should not be taxed at an average rate than the rich…and that the large number of taxes and fees, collected in so many different ways is highly inefficient. Republicans want to decrease top tax rates; to an extent, that can increase revenue. But they don't want to mess with the cap on FICA taxes, since they get a huge benefit by not paying 17%, effectively, on most of their money. The poor don't get that option. Democrats want to raise taxes on the rich, which may or may not increase revenue as well, but even if it does … it's spitting in the ocean. And cutting loopholes? Try getting rid of the mortgage interest deduction. That would *really* go over well with the middle class … no one really wants to actually address the larger issue, which is that the logical solution of a single income tax, split between fed, state, and local would be highly efficient … and show people how much they actually pay in taxes.

maxutils said...

On a side note, I mentioned neither Smith or blacks … but if you've read any Smith, you'd know him to want to tax only as necessary to sustain a reasonable government …the way we do it now lends itself to larger government. And their are many more poor! middle class people who are white. So I'm not sure why race is relevant.