Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

Another Truth-Teller Gone from Democratic Debate

August 30, 2019 By Debbie Young

Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the Western Maryland Agriculture Workshop at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center Boonboro, MD, on Monday, November 2, 2015. USDA photo by Taylor Donoghue.

Recently, James Freeman (WSJ) asked former Rep. and presidential contender John Delaney (D., Md.) to comment on recent wage gains during “the Trump era compared to an Obama era characterized by rising stock prices but disappointing earnings for the average worker.”

Mr. Delaney on Inequality

“I think the economy up until recently has done pretty well and I’m happy about that. And I think the Obama dynamic was a little bit distorted because if you think about the situation President Obama walked into, which is the greatest economic disruption since the Great Depression, and we put a huge amount of stimulus into the economy which obviously benefited people who owned assets because that’s really what happened. So it really did create a spike in inequality but there was no other way you had to put stimulus in.”

Obama’s Inequality Spike

It seems the distribution of wealth and income, despite the Obama inequality spike, hasn’t changed all that much. In a WSJ column, James Freeman has chronicled significant flaws in the claim that recent decades have seen a massive surge in U.S. income inequality.

This already shaky thesis may not survive the upcoming formal publication of a working paper by Gerald Auten of the U.S. Treasury and David Splinter of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. They find “there has been relatively little change since 1960” in the income share received by the top 1% of U.S. earners.

As for wealth inequality, economic historian Phillip Magness recently reported that based on data from the Federal Reserve, the richest 1% of Americans today own only a slightly higher percentage of the nation’s wealth than the one-percenters of the early 1960s.

Will this message penetrate the Democratic debate bubble? Mr. Delaney for his part still insists that inequality has been rising and is a serious problem. But he made clear in our discussion that he’s most concerned with allowing people in the bottom half of the income ladder to grow their wealth and incomes, which should be a priority for all lawmakers.

Mr. Freeman’s brought up his point that “at least some economic inequality is necessary for our prosperity—inventors and entrepreneurs have to know they will be rewarded for their creations.” Mr. Delaney, who founded two public companies before entering politics, admitted that he is a capitalist at his core.

“I believe the U.S. private economy has been the greatest innovation and job creation machine ever created. And we should not be throwing that out the window. But we always make capitalism more just. That’s what we do. We used to let kids work in factories and we stopped that. And a continued evolution is the way I think about it.”

A Truth-Teller on Single-Payer Health Care

Mr. Delaney was not a polling success, which is too bad. His honesty did seem to influence the Democratic presidential debate. For example, notes Mr. Freeman, Delaney’s truthfulness on single-payer health care forced even Bernie Sanders to rewrite his plan.

Mr. Delaney, who failed to come close to qualifying for the next round of Democratic debates, could have helped Democrats “focus on expanding opportunities for all Americans to succeed as capitalists, rather than punishing those who do.”

Read more here.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • Where Have the Democratic Truth-Tellers Gone?
  • Debate #1 and the New Democratic Drinking Game
  • Democratic Bench
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Debbie Young
Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.
Latest posts by Debbie Young (see all)
  • Don’t Believe ’em. They’re Coming for Your Gas Stove - January 27, 2023
  • The Power of Words - January 26, 2023
  • US Debt Now Exceeds Annual GDP? - January 25, 2023

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • WAR HAS BEGUN: What Advice Are You Giving Your Loved Ones?
  • Protection While Traveling in France
  • DIGITAL DOLLAR DOOMSDAY: The Wall Street Journal Is NOT Going to Tell You This
  • Sen. Hawley Makes the Case Against U.S.-China Relationship
  • Meet Me at Freddy’s June 2022
  • TROJAN HORSE: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is Critical Race Theory in Disguise
  • The Masters of the Universe Align Themselves with CHINA Using YOUR Money?
  • V4 Stands Against North African and Middle Eastern Invasion
  • The Armed American Family: Part I
  • Vermont Abandoned, Dairy Farm Economy Devastated

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Pfizer CEO Terrified of Real Questions About His Vaccines
  • America's Super States and Stocks that Respect YOU
  • Give Me Clean, Efficient Gas
  • How the Biden Administration Is Destroying Our Energy Infrastructure
  • The Rich Seek More from Bank Accounts
  • Artificial Intelligence Is Coming, But It's Not Quite There
  • Is Kevin McCarthy’s GOP Willing to Do What It Takes on Debt?
  • The Sound of Silence
  • Strengthen Your Defenses Against Stroke
  • Forty Years Ago, Jogging a Mile a Day and Still Going

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • CATO: Global Freedom Is in Sharp Decline
  • Biden Administration Destroying Retiree Fiduciary Protections
  • 4 Life Changing Words for Your Survival Guy: “You Should Try This”
  • Suddenly, Holding Cash Looks Good Again to Many
  • Anti-Carbon Crusaders in Davos Talk ESG and OPM
  • Is Passive Investing Already Passé?
  • Welcome to Hotel California, Where You Can Never Leave
  • What You’re Telling Me Matters
  • Can Banks Compete with Apple Pay and PayPal?
  • America’s Super States and Stocks that Respect YOU

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • CATO: Global Freedom Is in Sharp Decline
  • TIME FOR A GONDOLA? Little Cottonwood Canyon Jammed with Traffic
  • Biden Administration Destroying Retiree Fiduciary Protections
  • 4 Life Changing Words for Your Survival Guy: “You Should Try This”
  • Anti-Carbon Crusaders in Davos Talk ESG and OPM
  • Welcome to Hotel California, Where You Can Never Leave
  • What You’re Telling Me Matters
  • The Rich Seek More from Bank Accounts
  • California’s Wealth Tax Will Drive Out Remaining Rich Residents
  • Political Establishment Irate over Conservative Challenges to ESG

Don’t Believe ’em. They’re Coming for Your Gas Stove

NH Republicans Favor DeSantis Over Trump By a Big Margin

CATO: Global Freedom Is in Sharp Decline

The Telling Depth of Media Propaganda and Censorship

MEDIA BLACKOUT: No One Will Cover Pharma Exec’s Virus Confession

TIME FOR A GONDOLA? Little Cottonwood Canyon Jammed with Traffic

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives