Among Barack Obama\u2019s many failures none is more stunning than his purported effort to reduce income inequality, which he calls \u201cthe defining issue of our time.\u201d While the nefarious 1% prospers (and pays 35% of U.S. income taxes), the bottom 90% struggles. You know the bleak statistics \u2013 anemic GDP growth, stagnant real wages, the poverty rate at recessionary levels, record-high income inequality, median household income 8% lower than in 2007.<\/p>\n
The Obama Mansion Boom<\/strong><\/p>\n But to really appreciate how well the affluentials are doing, you need more than numbers. You need to visit my neighborhood and behold the building boom that is under way. It\u2019s a Wall Street bedroom community where the housing stock consists largely of what John Kenneth Galbraith derisively but accurately called \u201cStock Broker Tudors\u201d built during the 1920s bull market.<\/p>\n Back in 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated, the homes in my neighborhood were quite serviceable\u2014no sagging rooflines, no cracked windows held together with masking tape, no broken-down porches, no 1979 Buicks sitting on cinder blocks in the front yard. According to Zillow, most of them are worth $1 million to $3.5 million. Nevertheless homeowners have decided they simply must upgrade to something bigger and better. Taking advantage of rising stock prices and super-low interest rates, they have improved and expanded and built and demolished and rebuilt. You\u2019re not really cool in my neighborhood unless you have a dumpster in the driveway and a Porta-Potty for construction workers in the front yard. I count, within just a few blocks of my house, no less than 17 major construction projects started or completed in the last three years, specifically:<\/p>\n After you build or rebuild your mansion, you need to decorate it for Christmas with wreaths\u2014lots of them. One for every window and door. The neighborhood record is 17 wreaths; two houses tied for second with 14.<\/p>\n Keystone XL: Out of Excuses<\/strong><\/p>\n Democrats talk a good game about promoting \u201cgood paying middle class jobs\u201d but invariably defer to enviromaniacs who oppose economic development having anything to do with dreaded carbon. Andrew Cuomo banned fracking despite its good environmental record in neighboring Pennsylvania. Obama promises to veto the Keystone XL Pipeline even though he has run out of excuses for doing so. It was painful to watch a hapless Senator Coons of Delaware debate the issue with Senator Hoeving of North Dakota on FoxNews Sunday. Coons spouted empty platitudes about \u201dAn energy policy that includes growing good jobs, American innovation and infrastructure, energy independence, and that doesn’t hurt our environment.\u201d Senator Hoeven, smarter and better-prepared, showed that building the Keystone XL Pipeline is a no-brainer from every point of view\u2014economic, environmental, safety, and geo-political:<\/p>\n An Opportunity for Republicans to Stick up for the Middle Class<\/strong><\/p>\n Fortunately the average construction worker is not as dumb as Senator Coons or President Obama or Paul Krugman or Senator Elizabeth Warren. He or she knows that environmental elitists have total contempt for the average worker who needs to make a living in the real world, not the never-never land of the enviro-maniacs, where pipelines are \u201cbad\u201d but giant windmills that slice up birds and solar farms that destroy thousands of acres of natural habitat are \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n By supporting sensible development of fossil fuels, Republicans can demonstrate in 2016 that they care more about the prosperity of the middle class than Democrats beholden to rich enviro-maniacs. But only if they nominate an economically literate, politically adroit candidate who demonstrates real empathy for average workers<\/strong>. Republicans did not nominate such candidates in 2008 or 2012. (McCain\u2019s economic platform did not extend beyond opposition to Congressional earmarks; Mitt 47% Romney, incredibly, never gave a coherent speech outlining his economic platform.) Let\u2019s hope the GOP doesn\u2019t make that mistake again in 2016.<\/p>\n Copyright Thomas Doerflinger 2015. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Among Barack Obama\u2019s many failures none is more stunning than his purported effort to reduce income inequality, which he calls \u201cthe defining issue of our time.\u201d While the nefarious 1% prospers (and pays 35% of U.S. income taxes), the bottom … Continue reading \n
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