Opinion - Obama is Wrong on Income Inequality

By Manuel Martin | December 12, 2013 | Last week President Obama gave a speech in which he was calling for government to take activ...


By Manuel Martin | December 12, 2013 |

Last week President Obama gave a speech in which he was calling for government to take active measures to curtail what he considers income inequality. As someone who started working at the age of 12, it became very apparent the way for me to earn more money was to make myself more productive and valuable to my employer. The declaration that we have income inequality in this country is such a vague statement, that, can anyone truly pin point what it even means. I will agree with the president that indeed we do have people who earn more than others. I would say the pilot of a Boeing 747 earns more money than your average fast food worker. But is this income inequality?
 
The above example is in reality labor valuation. Society has deemed that piloting a passenger jet is a more valuable skill to society than flipping burgers. The pilot is contributing more to society, so society pays said pilot more for their expertise. What our president is saying, is that the one week of training the local fast food employee undergoes, is comparable and just as valuable to the years and thousands of hours’ worth of training the pilot has to undergo. Our president using political demagoguery to convince people they deserve more money than what labor markets mandate is below the office of president.  Our president should be better than just another politician who seeks to divide and conquer, sadly it is his philosophy. 

Obama went on to challenge the Republicans: “If Republicans have concrete plans that will actually reduce inequality, build the middle class, provide more ladders of opportunity to the poor, let's hear them. I want to know what they are.”  I must agree with him, where are the big bold Republican ideas that will benefit the American people?  We need leaders who are not afraid to put forward big bold plans, plans that will not only put more money in the people’s hands, but then unit the people. Republicans should be united in calling for the abolition of the income tax and the IRS. Let’s stop giving the politicians the ability to create all these different tax brackets that simply divide Americans against one another. Let’s stop giving politicians the income tax which they then use to give tax breaks to their crony capitalists, which simply expands the politicians influence and creates another special interest group to be pitted against another. The way to help the middle class and those striving to make it to the middle class can be found in one simply word, freedom! 

In America people should have the natural right to labor freely and keep the fruits of their labor. It’s incredibly difficult to move into the upper echelon of society if the more you make the more the government takes from you. This is not a progressive taxation system, but incredibly regressive, our income tax punishes success and rewards idleness. The fact is freedom and the individual strive to greatness is what made America prosperous. It’s hard for Americans to strive for greatness, when they need to ask government for permission to be an entrepreneur. It’s even more difficult when the more a business person makes the more the government takes from them, making it harder for the business to expand and hire more people.  America needs a momentous dosage of freedom to help inspire the people and grow our economy.

Modern day politicians don’t like freedom because the more free you are the less relevant the politicians become. If the GOP decided to stand with freedom and take steps to make the politicians less powerful in order to empower the individual, they will find themselves in the majority. I am running for the 9th Assembly seat because we need leaders who will work tirelessly to advance liberty, not just go to Sacramento to play ball. 


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3 comments

Unknown said...

I think this article sums up the discussion perfectly. Pres. Obama is attempting to create in the American consciousness an "us versus them" mentality. Manuel is right when he states "Americans need a momentous dose of freedom to help inspire the people and grow our economy." More freedom, less bureaucracy, we need leaders that understand that in California State Assembly.

Jane Davis said...

Manuel is completely on point. Why is it that the people of this country feel that there is income inequality? Doesn't common sense tell you that those who work hard will tend to be more prosperous than those who chose to stay uneducated, and depended of the government? If you don't like flipping burgers than what will you do to change that? Go to the government and ask for help, or try to educate yourself more so you can gain skills for a better career and get the government out of the picture? People need to realize that the more you allow the government to intervene and "help" the more they think they can get away with and the more the will intervene on every aspect of our lives. A free market WORKS, raising minimum wage will only hurt this already broken economy.

I hope you all listen to Manuel and see the truth in everything he has said!

Trevor Philips said...

The most unnerving thing about these quotes from the President are how he takes the perceived moral high ground calling against income inequality. What he said sounds good, but it's implications are exactly what Manuel explains. Income inequality may be a problem in some situations by why must government (specifically the federal government) be the entity to come up with end execute the plan? It should be up to us, the individual actors in the marketplace, to determine what organizations to support and throw our support behind.
Tax revenues should not the the mechanism to fix this problem. The IRS should be abolished as Manuel says.
I'll have to look up whether or not Elk Grove is in the 9th district because the author looks to be smart enough to see the real problems and articulate enough to explain how to solve it without demagoguing.

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