I don’t think he’d even acknowledge the income inequality if it weren’t for the protests the last two months.
A picture referenced in his paper says it all.
[img_assist|nid=15573|title=CBO Income inequality|desc=Cumulative Growth in Average After-Tax Income, by Income Group|link=node|align=left|width=431|height=450][/quote]
Indeed this is noteworthy, UCGal. It took them a while, but I think even the Congressional Neaderthals couldn’t fail to recognize the message behind the recent Ohio election results.
That being said, have you read the entire report yet? A more in-depth perusal led me to a lot of defensive verbiage by Mr. Ryan. There was certainly a lot of justification of earlier statements, bills, etc. going on.
However, did anyone else notice Mr. Ryan’s statement, “One underreported conclusion from the CBO study is that shifts in government transfers and federal taxes have contributed to increasing inequality over time.” He followed this up with an intriguing analysis, “This shift reflects a growth in programs that focus on the elderly population and are not for the most part income-adjusted, such as Social Security and Medicare. In other words, the structure of some of the nation’s largest entitlement programs has decreased the share of government transfer payments going to lower-income households and directed an increasing share of government spending to wealthier seniors.”
Lesson 1: When old people get pissed off at you, and poor people have always been pissed off at you, tell the poor ones that the government used to give them extra money 30 years ago, but that it’s now giving the money to rich old people who don’t think they’re rich enough. Then step back and have your legislative assistant take pictures of the poor people beating up on the old ones, and post them on Facebook. The old people are dead, the poor ones are in jail….Everyone wins!
Lesson 2: Try to sound smart and insightful, while being dismissive of the CBO’s report: “This trend, accelerated by the retirement of the baby-boom generation, contributes to an increase in inequality.” Hold on a minute: This report covers the period June 1979 thru June 2007. The first Boomers didn’t turn 65 until January 2010. Tell me again how the retirement of those rich, avaricious Baby Boomers is responsible for income inequality?
Lesson 3: Don’t miss an opportunity to plant yet another nugget of suspicion in the minds of voters that President Obama is making the government withhold information from them, “One underreported conclusion from the CBO study is that shifts in government transfers and federal taxes have contributed to increasing inequality over time.” With any luck, they’ll pick up on the hint that he’s also responsible for income equality.
There was one additional statement that gave me pause: “These economic trends (trade and technology) have also contributed to increased inequality in most other advanced industrial economies around the world, not just the United States (see Figure 7). In fact, of the few countries that have seen decreasing inequality over the past thirty years, one of them, Greece, is in the midst of a severe debt crisis and is teetering on the edge of economic collapse. This underscores the point that increased equality does not always mean better economic outcomes for all.”
Okay, the description of Greece as having an “industrial economy” might have been a teensy bit of a stretch”. But I admit to being disturbed by his inclusion of the information that income inequality in Greece is decreasing, and following that up, not only with a(n unnecessary) reminder that Greece is in the economic hopper, but also an example of logic so twisted that it violated the laws of physics.
I’m not sure if I’m upset because of
1. his inclusion and distorting of the information about Greece to try to sell his constituents on the idea that income equality will tip the U.S. over the economic brink, just like it did in Greece…..did it? It didn’t? What? Who’s on first?
2. or if it’s because there’s a distinct possibility that he really believes it, and that, in his fertile mind, it makes absolute sense. Which would explain a lot of things about Mr. Ryan.
