Regrettably in some ways Republicans are helping them
George Will’s main point in today’s syndication is that Democrats, while railing about income inequality employ policies that transfer wealth away from working class and middle income earners, the people they pretend to be concerned about. He makes several points about Democrats cultivating dependency, and the matter of categorical eligibility whereby (our words not Will’s) receiving any government aid qualifies one for more aid.
Will also makes compelling points about what has driven record stock market gains –
the government’s monetary policy breeds inequality — low rates are intended to drive liquidity into the stock market in search of higher yields.
After providing astonishing figures about bank liquidity building up, Will concludes:
The monetary base having expanded 340 percent in six years, there is abundant money for businesses. But, says Fisher, the federal government’s fiscal and regulatory policies discourage businesses from growing the economy with the mountain of money the Fed has created. This is why “the most vital organ of our nation’s economy — the middle-income worker — is being eviscerated.” And why the loudest complaints about inequality are coming from those whose policies worsen it.
Which brings us to the implications of our related point which became obvious when we read Will’s first “crux of the matter” paragraph (bold typography our emphasis).
. . . Meanwhile, there are farm bills, like the one Obama signed last month at Michigan State University.
MSU was one of the models for the land-grant colleges created under the 1862 Morrill Act, whose primary purpose was to apply learning to agriculture. Today, we apply crony capitalism to agriculture. The legislation Obama lavishly praised redistributes wealth upward by raising prices consumers pay. Vincent Smith of Montana State University says small non-farm businesses are almost 30 times more likely to fail than farms, partly because the $956 billion farm legislation continues agriculture’s thick safety net. The geyser of subsidies assures that farm households will continue to be 53 percent more affluent than average households.
Now it hasn’t been the Republican Party per se that has enabled this. Indeed many Republican platforms in Iowa oppose subsidies and mandates and other forms of government involvement in agriculture. The problem is Republican bureaucracies and politicians doing the bidding of special interests, not Republican principles.
The result is we lose credibility to declaim government handouts to other industries. Many Republicans vote for others’ handouts in order to garner support for “their” subsidy. And the death spiral continues. Indeed the Republican establishment tries to continue it, hanging on for what they perceive as their dear life. Never seriously even trying to change the system in order to pull themselves out of temptation.
As long as they can work the system to their narrow advantage, no matter the cost to taxpayers, the business as usual types will. Geniuses in the Republican establishment are trading on the worse disdain for Democrats right now and confusing it with satisfaction with “Republicans.” They are living in a fools paradise. R Mall
