Witnessing the Fundamental Transformation Pt. 4

"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." 
Barack Obama, 5 days before Election Day, November 2008
        
THE ECONOMY
President Obama recently spoke of the divide between rich and poor getting wider. He lamented the shrinking of the middle class and vowed to correct the increasing income inequality and improve upward mobility.  Yet, despite what he says, Obama has been looking to bring the top down to lessen  the income gap rather than elevate the bottom up. This President has been demonizing the wealthy, through rhetoric and legislative action since he took office. And, although he speaks of improving Americans' economic lot, this President has always opted for stagnation rather than economic growth during the past 5 years.

Obama spoke of raising the minimum wage and spending on infrastructure (remember in 2011, "shovel-ready was not as...uh...shovel-ready as we expected... hahaha"?) The middle class is worse off now than in recent history. Small businesses are not hiring workers if it takes them over the 49 employee limit which would force them to provide expensive health insurance, corporations are suffering massive restrictions thanks to the Dodd-Frank Bill which imposes thousands of  unnecessary regulations, and taxes on the 'rich' moves more capital from private economy to government.  Unemployment, although hovering around 7% now, is in reality much, much higher due to millions who have given up looking for work. During his reign, the top 1% made 95% of the gains, while more of the middle class are joining the dependency rolls. 

REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH - This is an important strategy in fundamentally transforming this country. The biggest example of this would be Obamacare itself, representing 1/6 of the nation's economy, and clearly proving to be a mechanism for redistributing the wealth. It was designed to take from those who have and give to those who don't. It is forcing Americans into unwanted health plans with higher premiums and higher deductibles, with restrictions on choice of doctors and hospitals, to provide for those who previously didn't have insurance plans. Never mind that the tens of millions of people from whom Obamacare will be tapping into to provide for those others, will be without their own insurance plans. 

GOVERNMENT DEPENDENCY - Never before in history has there been a higher level of government dependency.

• Statistics show that 1 in 5 Americans depend on the government for help.

• Nearly half (49.5%) of the population don't pay federal income tax.

• In 2011 the federal government spent more taxpayer dollars than ever before to subsidize Americans.

• 70% of the federal budget goes to individual assistance programs, which represents a dramatic increase in the past few years.

• Nearly 48 million people collect food stamps - this represents a sharp increase over the last few years - the Congressional Budget Office agrees that this has more to do with policy decisions than it has to do with the economy.

•  Under Obama's reign, unemployment benefits were extended to 99 weeks.

•  Obama gutted welfare reform and reversed the 1994 provisions of welfare-to-work and returned to the days of providing bonuses to states for increasing the welfare caseloads instead of decreasing them.

 If this trend continues, dependency will eventually become the norm, especially as the baby boom generation enters into retirement and the number of taxpaying Americans decrease.
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/09/morning-bell-dependence-on-government-highest-in-history/

As more and more Americans look to the government to assist them with housing, food, healthcare, etc., upward mobility is hindered.  Incentives to look for work are hampered. Nor do people want to leave their subsidized housing. If then they start to make money, they lose their benefits; they lose their subsidies, they lose their food stamps. Essentially, big government, which encourages dependency, sucks all desire to improve one's life, to be self-reliant, to be personally responsible. This is the road that leads to more government control of everything. This is the road that leads to socialism...or worse.

UNEMPLOYMENT - Although the unemployment rate, at 7.0%  is lower than the 8-9% levels  they were in the first few years of the recession, the actual unmployment numbers are higher, more like 13%. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm 
The proportion of Americans with jobs has not increased. Only 58% of U.S. adults are working. Employment rates have been flat and it has been referred to as a jobless recovery. What accounts for this is that millions of prime age Americans have simply given up looking for work. Some have gone back to school. Some went on disability insurance, and some took early retirement packages. http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/13/the-jobless-recovery-continues-with-high-unemployment/

SHRINKING MIDDLE CLASS -  Although Obama talked a blue streak about helping out the middle class, it is the segment of the population which has suffered the most since he took office. His policies have done much damage to the middle class; median household income is lower than it was 5 years ago, interest rates on consumer purchases are higher, savings interest is lower, cost of gasoline has doubled since 2008, small employers are paying higher taxes and now pay more than half their incomes towards federal, state and local taxes; as a result they are hiring fewer people and investing less money into capital, college tuition is at a strangling level, and Obamacare is showing itself to be a loser for the middle class who now have to struggle with new and higher premiums. http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/13/the-jobless-recovery-continues-with-high-unemployment/  
Even Teamster boss James Hoffa, strong supporter of this President said, Obamacare will "destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week which is the backbone of the American middle class."

NATIONAL DEBT - $17 trillion in debt - the highest it's been in history. Heritage Foundation delineates the many reasons why it's such a big deal:

• Every American will be on the hook for this massive debt burden - at this point, that figure stands at $53, 769.
  

• Government debt crowds out private investment, slowing the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and wages. This could cause families to lose up to $11,000 on their income every year.

• High government spending with no accountability eliminates opportunities for career advancement, paralyzes job creation, and lowers wages and salaries.

• Some families and businesses won't be able to borrow money because of high interest rates on mortgages, car loans, and more.

• High-debt economics similar to America's current state grew by one-third less than their low-debt counterparts.

• Millions of people depend on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, but these programs are also the main drivers of the growing debt.

• Big government corruption and special interests only get bigger.

• Astronomical debt lowers incomes and well-being permanently, not just temporarily. A one-time major increase in government debt is typically a permanent addition, and the dragging effects on the economy are long-lasting.

• It is the biggest threat to U.S. security.

• Makes us more vulnerable to the next economic crisis. High debt makes America weaker.

 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/17/morning-bell-17-reasons-the-17-trillion-debt-is-still-a-big-deal/?ac=

MINIMUM WAGE - Obama's strong desire for a level playing field flies in the face of free market capitalism.  What he consistently fails to see or acknowledge, is that equal opportunity is at the heart of our system, not income equality. 'Raise the minimum wage' is his latest mantra to close the income gap. Does he not know that when you raise the cost of labor, employers who may not afford the new wages, must resort to laying off workers, and that hurts the working poor?  That it cuts into business profits? That you take away a young person's chance at gaining experience in the working world when an employer who has to pay out $15/hour for unskilled labor will be much more selective in their hiring?  That raising minimum wage increases the price of a product, so that when a corporation like McDonald's must pay its workers double what they pay now, it can no longer offer its customers low cost meals, and this hurts the poor and middle class?

How does an economy grow like that? It doesn't. Maybe that's the point. And reducing income inequality should not be the defining challenge of our time, as the President claims...unless, of course, you're looking to fundamentally transform the United States of America.