Why am I not surprised?

The poor are not getting poorer | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/26/2011

Add to this the recent revelation (I wish I could find the link -- I'll post an update if I find it) that the entirety of the income gap is associated with the various bubbles in the financial industry, created, of course, largely due to government policies. The fat cats in the financial industry have become so much richer as a result of these bubbles and the games they're able to play with federal policies that a relative handful of rich individuals has skewed the stats. But even at that, that reality hasn't been at the expense of the poor any more or less than it has to anyone else (who isn't a financial fat cat), and is a result of government meddling -- not a lack thereof.

Furthermore (and here again I lift someone else's idea -- I'll really try to find the link), let's presume for the sake of argument that there is a growing income gap between rich and poor. So what? What's the problem? Suppose we found a way to double everyone's income right now -- rich and poor. That would improve the condition of the poor, but would widen the gap. If you're against that, then your concern really isn't with the condition of the poor, but with the differential between the two groups -- it's pure ideology and/or envy. If, on the other hand, you support that, then there's no substance to the issue of an "income gap" -- the issue is how do we improve the condition of the poor?

Now, some will say that that last point misses one case: we can tax the rich at higher rates and fork over the cash to poor folks, thereby reducing the gap AND helping the poor. But do we really HAVE to punish the rich in order to help the poor? Does increased government largess really help people? And beyond that, even president Obama admits that raising the capital gains tax rates might not increase federal revenues. That is, it won't allow the fed to increase aid to the poor. [incidentally, Obama is apparently not concerned about that -- to him it's an issue of "fairness," rather than actually helping anyone]