First global warming, now socialism.
Those wacky Republicans!
Republicans Are Finally Talking About Inequality
Earlier this month former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched his new PAC with a message geared toward economic insecurity: “While the last eight years have been pretty good ones for top earners, they’ve been a lost decade for the rest of America.” Last Friday former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talked up inequality, telling a Republican audience in San Diego, “Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty than ever before.”
For as odd as it is to hear Romney (of “47 percent” fame) disdain the plutocratic economy, it’s also a welcome change. After 15 years of bad economic news—from sluggish growth and wage stagnation to a world-historical recession—we are finally at a point of real progress. Now is the time to talk frankly about what we need to further our gains and ensure broad prosperity. And, sincere or not, it’s good that Republicans want to be part of that conversation. At its best, conservative thinking on inequality puts a laser focus on the particular problems of families. “Perhaps the most basic challenge facing middle-class families,” said Utah Sen. Mike Lee in an expansive speech to the Heritage Foundation in October 2013, “is how expensive it has become for couples to simply start and grow their families.”
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And while liberals will not agree with Republican prescriptions, there’s real value in their critiques and counterproposals. For example, one of the smarter conservative criticisms of President Obama’s plan for larger child and child care tax credits is that they penalize stay-at-home parents. Specifically, Obama’s plan would give new tax credits to dual-income families as well as provide larger credits to parents who need child care to do paid work. But if a family chooses to forgo market income by having a parent stay home, it loses these credits.
Earlier this month former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched his new PAC with a message geared toward economic insecurity: “While the last eight years have been pretty good ones for top earners, they’ve been a lost decade for the rest of America.” Last Friday former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talked up inequality, telling a Republican audience in San Diego, “Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty than ever before.”
For as odd as it is to hear Romney (of “47 percent” fame) disdain the plutocratic economy, it’s also a welcome change. After 15 years of bad economic news—from sluggish growth and wage stagnation to a world-historical recession—we are finally at a point of real progress. Now is the time to talk frankly about what we need to further our gains and ensure broad prosperity. And, sincere or not, it’s good that Republicans want to be part of that conversation. At its best, conservative thinking on inequality puts a laser focus on the particular problems of families. “Perhaps the most basic challenge facing middle-class families,” said Utah Sen. Mike Lee in an expansive speech to the Heritage Foundation in October 2013, “is how expensive it has become for couples to simply start and grow their families.”
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And while liberals will not agree with Republican prescriptions, there’s real value in their critiques and counterproposals. For example, one of the smarter conservative criticisms of President Obama’s plan for larger child and child care tax credits is that they penalize stay-at-home parents. Specifically, Obama’s plan would give new tax credits to dual-income families as well as provide larger credits to parents who need child care to do paid work. But if a family chooses to forgo market income by having a parent stay home, it loses these credits.
Republicans are discussing poverty and inequality: Democrats should engage their criticism and ideas.
Those wacky Republicans!
Republicans Are Finally Talking About Inequality
Earlier this month former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched his new PAC with a message geared toward economic insecurity: “While the last eight years have been pretty good ones for top earners, they’ve been a lost decade for the rest of America.” Last Friday former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talked up inequality, telling a Republican audience in San Diego, “Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty than ever before.”
For as odd as it is to hear Romney (of “47 percent” fame) disdain the plutocratic economy, it’s also a welcome change. After 15 years of bad economic news—from sluggish growth and wage stagnation to a world-historical recession—we are finally at a point of real progress. Now is the time to talk frankly about what we need to further our gains and ensure broad prosperity. And, sincere or not, it’s good that Republicans want to be part of that conversation. At its best, conservative thinking on inequality puts a laser focus on the particular problems of families. “Perhaps the most basic challenge facing middle-class families,” said Utah Sen. Mike Lee in an expansive speech to the Heritage Foundation in October 2013, “is how expensive it has become for couples to simply start and grow their families.”
Advertisement
And while liberals will not agree with Republican prescriptions, there’s real value in their critiques and counterproposals. For example, one of the smarter conservative criticisms of President Obama’s plan for larger child and child care tax credits is that they penalize stay-at-home parents. Specifically, Obama’s plan would give new tax credits to dual-income families as well as provide larger credits to parents who need child care to do paid work. But if a family chooses to forgo market income by having a parent stay home, it loses these credits.
Earlier this month former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched his new PAC with a message geared toward economic insecurity: “While the last eight years have been pretty good ones for top earners, they’ve been a lost decade for the rest of America.” Last Friday former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talked up inequality, telling a Republican audience in San Diego, “Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty than ever before.”
For as odd as it is to hear Romney (of “47 percent” fame) disdain the plutocratic economy, it’s also a welcome change. After 15 years of bad economic news—from sluggish growth and wage stagnation to a world-historical recession—we are finally at a point of real progress. Now is the time to talk frankly about what we need to further our gains and ensure broad prosperity. And, sincere or not, it’s good that Republicans want to be part of that conversation. At its best, conservative thinking on inequality puts a laser focus on the particular problems of families. “Perhaps the most basic challenge facing middle-class families,” said Utah Sen. Mike Lee in an expansive speech to the Heritage Foundation in October 2013, “is how expensive it has become for couples to simply start and grow their families.”
Advertisement
And while liberals will not agree with Republican prescriptions, there’s real value in their critiques and counterproposals. For example, one of the smarter conservative criticisms of President Obama’s plan for larger child and child care tax credits is that they penalize stay-at-home parents. Specifically, Obama’s plan would give new tax credits to dual-income families as well as provide larger credits to parents who need child care to do paid work. But if a family chooses to forgo market income by having a parent stay home, it loses these credits.
Republicans are discussing poverty and inequality: Democrats should engage their criticism and ideas.
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