What is the White House or Republican Party's stance on the widening gap between richest and poorest among us?

Question

Please provide documention of public comments on the subject by elected Republicans or Party officials. Comments that only communists or class war-mongers EVEN CARE about the distribution of wealth are not welcome.

For those who question the accuracy of the statement that the gap is widening:

http://www.faireconomy.org/research/wealth_charts.html
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

No, I try hard not to hate anyone. I don't think Bush is a very compassionate or indeed very honest person, but that doesn't make me hate him. It makes me feel sorry for him.

It is the government's concern that we don't tax the wealthy more than we do. If we could tax the richest one percent of us 5% more and eliminate taxes altogether for the rest of us I personally think that's worth it.

The "no anti-communist postings" comment was my attempt to limit this discussion to legitimate answers instead of the usual personal attacks that accompany any questions on the subject. I guess that failed. :-/

Decreasing tax cuts while increasing spending is exchanging short term political gain for long term fiscal stability. Greater national debt will in the long term threaten the poor to a much greater degree than it will the wealthy, even if in the short term the poor are paying less taxes (as a % of their income) than the wealthiest of us.

Answer 1

In the words of Homer Simpson; "WoooHooo" (does a little happy dance). That's how "trickle-down economics" works. Tax cuts for the rich (who get richer) and benifit cuts for the poor (who get poorer). The way it is supposed to work is: the rich make more and spend more, prices go up, factory workers make more on the products they manufacture. Unfortunately, most products are not manufactured in the US anymore. Therefore, the money is not "trickling-down" to Americans, it is going to China and Taiwan.

How do Republicans feel about it?

“We're saying 'no, Mr. President,' ... No means no, we're not going to spend a dime out of Social Security and we're not going to raise taxes, but we are going to balance the budget.” Tom Delay 1998 (What happened to that balanced budget and the Social Security lock-box?)

“We are committed to setting aside the 700 billion dollars in surplus for tax cuts, ... Having taken care of Social Security, we believe the extra money should go to tax cuts. Period.” Newt Gingrich 1998 (We took care of Social Security? Why is it in trouble again?)

“I just believe it's wrong for middle-class Americans to be saddled with endless debt and deficits while the most fortunate among us walk away with billions in tax cuts.” Dick Cheney 2000 (Guess who walked away with millions in tax cuts while saddling middle-class Americans with endless debt and deficits?)

What's interesting is, with all my searching, I could only find one Republican quote about the middle class, and none about poverty or distribution of wealth. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess...

Answer 2

Unforunately the White House seems to want to import untold numbers of million more poor people, which would naturally increase the gap betwee the rich and poor. People who are poor now would be rich by comparison.

I don't understand why democrats look the other way when poor American's jobs are taken by people for lower wages and their education and other services are negatively affected.

House republicans and some Senate republicans are trying very hard to narrow the gap. Some concrete measures were the tax cuts, welfare reform, and tougher measures against illegal aliens so that the poorest Americans can do valuable work and get paid a decent wage for doing it.

This "tax cuts for the rich" thing doesn't make any sense. Have you actually looked at the tax code and what the tax cuts do? It completely eliminated taxes for the poorest Americans, it drastically decreases middle and even other lower income people's tax rate, it encourages savings by increasing the amount contributable to an IRA from $2,000 to $4,000, it ads a ton of tax credits to help with education, etc. All of these things add up to helping poor Americans.

Republicans care a great deal more about the poor than democrats. Instead of taking money from someone else to hand it to the poor, they encourage the poor to become self sufficient, get a job, and not rely on government programs.

Answer 3

Sorry, couldn't find any quotes from Republicans on the wealth gap, but I did find this and thought it was interesting.

Excerpts from:

The New Politics of Inequality
By Alan Wolfe
New York Times
September 22, 1999

The 1990's will be remembered as a time of Reaganism without Reagan. In an ironic confirmation of the conservative dictum that most consequences are unplanned, President Reagan's deliberate attempts to redistribute wealth to the rich now appear puny compared with what stock options and C.E.O. compensation have done under President Clinton.

But Democrats who think they have the issue of economic justice locked up by default should think again. The problem is that for the party's liberal wing, any focus on the plight of the working poor and lower middle class would have implications that would be difficult to accept. It would constitute an implicit confession that Democrats are paying less attention to the nonworking poor. The Democrats need to understand that majority sentiment in this country insists that people be eligible for help only when they demonstrate that they deserve help. No longer can Democrats listen to the message of liberal academics who believe it is morally wrong to use a world like "morality" in discussing the plight of the poor.

Answer 4

Good luck finding comments like that. Republicans don't care and are unlikely to say a word about it. Democrats don't care, but they will pretend to. Truth be known, you're responsible for your financial well-being, and I'm responsible for mine. It's not the government's concern.

Why are you so afraid someone is going to bash communism in your thread? Can't stand the heat?

Answer 5

Rove plays a hand and Bush caves in on his illegal immigration reform bill,, conservatives would be happy to have the USA be more like Mexico

Answer 6

You are a George W. Bush hater aren't you? That is all media hype because they also hate him and anyone who is conservative. Our economy has never been stronger and more people are off the welfare roles than ever before.

Answer 7

They are for it. As Bush said his people are the "have and the have more's".