Editors at Issues and Insights recall former President Barack Obama‘s promise to focus on a “middle-class economy.”
In his State of the Union address five years ago, President Barack Obama talked at length about what he called “middle-class economics.” After years of economic stagnation, he promised that the only thing needed to revive the economy was more middle-class benefits. The middle class has made substantial gains since then, but only because President Donald Trump ignored everything Obama said.
In Obama’s address, he described “middle-class economics” as “helping folks afford childcare, college, health care, a home, retirement.” In other words, still more federal middle-class entitlements and new mandates on employers (higher minimum wage, paid family leave, etc.).
Instead, Trump delivered tax cuts derided by the left as a giveaway to the rich, and deregulated measures that Democrats had claimed were pro-growth.
And when Trump addressed Congress last week, he rattled off a long list of economic gains that resulted from his break from Obama’s “middle-class economics.” It turns out that cutting taxes and regulations, not more government spending, is what the middle class needs.
Included in Trump’s list was the fact that the wealth of the bottom half of American households increased three times as fast as the “1%.”
“That’s true, according to Federal Reserve data,” said Reuters. “On average, Americans have seen a 17% jump in household wealth since Trump’s election, while wealth at the bottom half has increased 54%.” The top 1% has seen a gain of 13%.
Democrats have been complaining about increases in income inequality for years. How do they explain the fact that it’s declining under Trump?
