Middle class hardest hit in blue states

Oklahoman Editorial:
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The results will likely surprise the redistributionist wing of the Democratic Party. Seven of the 10 states where the middle class has experienced significant challenges have been reliable votes for Democratic presidential candidates for a generation.

According to the analysis, California was the worst state for the middle class. Between 2009 and 2013, California’s middle-class household income fell 6.9 percent while the top 20 percent of households’ income increased 1.3 percent. The top 20 percent of California earners accounted for more than 52 percent of the state’s aggregate income by 2013, the third-highest share nationwide.

Yet California has one of the nation’s most Democrat-dominated state governments. The state has embraced a liberal governing agenda similar to the one Obama seeks to impose nationwide. Strict environmental regulations have led to the dumping of fresh water into the ocean even as drought hammers California’s agricultural region, generating higher food prices for all. Strict regulations have limited housing construction, causing home prices to exceed many working families’ incomes. The state has even over-regulated chicken cages, creating an artificial shortage of eggs. California consumers reportedly pay up to 66 percent more for eggs than their regional neighbors.

In short, while California’s left-wing policies may leave Hollywood’s limousine liberals feeling self-satisfied, they financially hammer most citizens who buy movie tickets.

The story is the same in other famously liberal states. Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island were ranked the second-, third- and fourth-worst states for middle-class households, respectively. Washington state ranked fifth. Liberals often claim unions aid middle-class earners. That hasn’t proven true in Washington: 24/7 Wall St. notes that nearly 20 percent of Washington’s workforce belonged to a union in 2013, one of the highest rates. “Yet, this did not appear to have an effect on the distribution of income in Washington.”

Oregon was the nation’s eighth-worst state for the middle class, despite having one of the nation’s highest minimum wage laws (another economic policy favored by liberals). Massachusetts (often derided as “Taxachusetts”) rounded out the top 10 states with a “dying” middle class.
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This confirms what I have been saying about how income inequality is the greatest in the blue states.  Liberal policies reward the rich and the poor and squeeze the middle class.  They inhibit entrepreneurs and small business start ups with onerous regulations and confiscatory taxes.  Plaintiff lawyers are also allowed to drive up the cost of business with frivolous litigation in the blue states.

How long will it take these people who think they are smarter than everyone else to comprehend that they have pt themselves on the wrong track?

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