GOP Candidates Blame 30 Years Of Rising Income Inequality On Barack Obama And Single Moms

[ProSense]

GOP Candidates Blame 30 Years Of Rising Income Inequality On Barack Obama And Single Moms

By Pat Garofalo

One of the most prominent grievances of those protesters in the 99 percent movement is America’s growing income inequality. The level of income inequality in the U.S. is currently the worst it has been since the Great Depression; over the last three decades, “the incomes of the bottom 90 percent of households have risen only slightly, on average, while the incomes of the top 1 percent have soared.” Since 1979, “the gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest fifths of the country more than tripled.”

During last night’s GOP presidential primary debate, the candidates were asked by the Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty for their thoughts on this troubling trend. Instead of pointing to the true culprits — growing financialization of the economy, excessive executive compensation, dropping rates of unionization, tax cuts for the wealthy, and stagnant wages — Gov. Rick Perry (TX) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (PA) blamed, respectively, President Obama and single mothers:

TUMULTY: Governor Perry, over the last 30 years, the income of the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans has grown by more than 300 percent, and yet we have more people living in poverty in this country than at any time in the last 50 years. Is this acceptable? And what would you do to close that gap?

PERRY: The reason we have that many people living in poverty is because we have got a president of the United States who is a job- killer. That’s what’s wrong with this country today. You have a president who does not understand how to create wealth. He has over-taxed, over-regulated the small-business men and women to the point where they are laying off people. Two-and-half million Americans are out there who have lost their jobs. We have got 14 million without work. This president, I will suggest to you, is the biggest deterrent to getting this country back on track, and we have to do everything we can to replace Barack Obama in 2012.

ROSE: OK. But we are almost out of time. I want to give you a chance, and then we have to go the final questions.

SANTORUM: There is more to it than that. And I agree with Rick, what he said, but the biggest problem with poverty in America, and we don’t talk about here, because it’s an economic discussion — and that is the break down of the American family. You want to look at the poverty rate among families that have two — that have a husband and wife working in them? It’s 5 percent today. A family that’s headed by one person? It’s 30 percent today…We need to have a policy that supports families, that encourages marriage that has fathers take responsibility for their children. You can’t have limited government — you can’t have a wealthy society if the family breaks down, that basic unit of society.

Watch it:

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[valerief]

1. Amazing how Obama has been prez for 30 years. Amazing.

But we're not allowed to say how amazingly stupid these candies are.

[OHdem10]

2. Rather, it is 30 years of CONSERVATIVE ECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALISM

and Republican Gospel: The Market can cure all ills
and right all wrongs. That INVISIBLE HAND messed
up somewhere along the way. This country is in
a Mess and the GOP wants to dig us in deeper with
Cut, cut cut and deregulate deregulate deregulate.

Last night debate, the cry was Repeal Dodd-Frank.
They want to give Wall ST the Freedom to set up another
Casino and blow our economy once again.

[wryter2000]

3. Obama failed to warn the US that the Japanese were going to bomb Pearl Harbor n/t

n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

4. The poverty rate would be much lower if everyone, women included,

was paid a living wage. It should be possible for 1 person to earn enough to support a family whether it is a one or two parent family.

[libinnyandia]

5. GOP Candidates

How anyone with a brain could vote for these people is beyond me. Oh, thats right, a lot of voters don't have functioning brains.

[flamingdem]

6. The average IQ is 100, add Fox News to that and it dips to 89

Once below 90 people vote against their own interests.

[KamaAina]

7. No, it's because we HAD a pResident who was a job-killer

Read my lips: No new Texans!

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

8. I did not know that Obama could tax and regulate all by himself,

what do we need Congress for if Obama has all these tools at his disposal?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. To Republicans, he's either a socialist dictator tyrant

or a weak Jimmy Carter-like POTUS who "leads from behind", particularly in foreign policy affairs. :eyes: It seems like they just decide on which meme they want to use on moment-by-moment basis and, as usual, ignore the contradictions and/or hypocrisy of their assertions. :shrug:

[Cigar11]

9. Never underestimate the power of STUPID! /n

[treestar]

10. What business is it of the government to snoop into

personal things like marital status?

Perry talks about the Presidency as if the President alone decides taxes and regulations.

[HughBeaumont]

11. The Koch's would disagree with the "not creating wealth" part.

Their net worths have increased 43% since 2010.

Corporate profits in general have been the highest since the Bewsh administration.

Hiring, as pathetic as it's been, has also reversed direction from the Bewsh Admin's crappy numbers.

So . . . if these two don't know what the fuck they're talking about, why should I hire THEM?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Sadly, such excessive blaming of President Obama isn't exclusive to the Republicans

n/t

[ProSense]

14. Top [NC] Republican: We Must ‘Divide And Conquer’ Welfare Recipients, Deny Assistance To Single Moms

Top North Carolina Republican: We Must ‘Divide And Conquer’ Welfare Recipients, Deny Assistance To Single Moms (Think Progress)

Speaking to a crowd at Mars Hill College last week, North Carolina state House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) extolled the virtues of drug testing low-income people who need welfare benefits, declaring that they need to be “conquer(ed)” because “the money’s not getting to the right people.” “You go in and you see a woman in a wheelchair — she’s from here, she’s from Asheville — who’s on the brink of losing her benefits, and you know that Health and Human Services is sending checks to a woman who has chosen to have three or four kids out of wedlock,” he said. Aghast at such decisions, he declared that government must “find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on assistance”:

<...>

[meow2u3]

15. Republicans are emotionally on the level of 6-year-olds

Adults take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. 6-year-olds try to get out of punishment for wrongdoing first by denying what they really did, and if denial doesn't work, they look for a scapegoat: their little brother or sister, the family dog, or even the boogeyman.

What you're seeing in Republicans are 6 year olds in adult bodies. They are not adults and if emotional age played a factor in voting, they'd be too young--or better put, too immature to vote. Now that's an idea for a voter suppression campaign I can back; make'em prove they're 18 emotionally. :evilgrin:

They go out of their way to look for an easy scapegoat to cover up for the individuals, corporations, and banks responsible for the multitrillion-dollar crime wave on Wall Street and the boardrooms of multinational conglomerates. Their favorite targets are invariably women, racial/ethnic minorities, and immigrants, acting as if poor single mothers choosing between feeding their children and paying the rent and bills personally stole trillions of dollars from the pockets of Republican politicians. When the evidence of their complicity, if not their outright criminal responsibility sees the light so that they can no longer scapegoat groups of people they don't like, they throw temper tantrums with far more dangerous behavior than a 1st grader breaking his/her toys and holding his/her breath. The so-called adults in the GOP had a history of crimes in the name of politics ranging from destruction of property to murder. If you don't believe me, you can cite Rush Limpballs, Glen Beck, and Fox Noise: a clear and present danger to the world IMO.

[and-justice-for-all]

16. I would LOVE to punch those assholes in the mouth..

with a 2x4!!! nt